


when i run (will you chase after me?)

by phanofstars



Series: across the trail of stars [1]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Boys In Love, Established Relationship, Guns, Happy Ending, I created an entire solar system for this fic, Little bit of Fluff, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Phandom Big Bang 2018, Romance, Separation, Space Opera, Swearing, a brawl at one point, ace Dan, brief mention of smoking, but it's not really a major plot point, cyberpunk nonsense, half written so i could put something in that tag, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-13
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-08-23 07:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 33,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16614743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phanofstars/pseuds/phanofstars
Summary: Dan escapes from the megacorporation that he's contracted to but plans go astray and he ends up leaving his partner Phil behind, who gets tasked to catch him in his run across the solar system.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my Phandom Big Bang 2018. A huge thanks to my beta @peasanthowelll for always inspiring me and my lovely artist @luisaloveshoney who's lovely art I will try and link to here.  
> This fic grew from 10k to over 30k and I'd like to thank them both so much for helping me through it. I'm extremely grateful and probably wouldn't have made it without them

“Did you really need to hit me so hard? You scratched my new armour Phil”  
Phil laughed and tore his gaze away from the neon lights of the city far below them.   
“You and your armour. Can’t even take a hit from a training knife without being scratched. Not like old faithful here” Phil patted the armoured vest that made up half their uniform and Dan could swear he saw a spark fly out.   
“That armour wouldn’t survive someone poking it with a spoon, never mind a training knife”   
“It survived you stabbing it with a knife” Phil raised his eyebrow at Dan who had to look away.   
“Well, er, maybe I was going easy on it so it wouldn’t short circuit your sensors and you’d have to go down to Observation and explain to them why it looks like one of their agents just died” _or maybe I just didn’t want to hurt you_ Dan completed in his mind.   
“Keep telling yourself that Dan” said Phil with a smile.

After returning from a rather successful mission in the less respectable parts of the city that morning (a high ranking Eirich trader they had tracked all over the solar system and finally managed to catch when he got too cocky and made his way here, to the Travellers ‘home’), they had been through hours of debriefs and report filing that always followed deployment, only to discover that they were both expected to take part in a fitness test straight after.

Dan had muttered words he rarely let himself say when the notification flashed up on his wristband- though it wasn’t all bad as the sight of Phil in a tight vest and shorts was a thing to be treasured (in  Dan’s opinion anyway).   
He wasn’t going to miss the timed runs or sparring matches when he got out of here though, and not just because the sparring matches made Phil put his body armour back on- the way that Phil always destroyed him in shooting contests might have also had something to do with it.

  
Phil shifted beside him, the different colours creating patterns of multi coloured shadows across his face. Dan couldn’t look away.   
The view, the city of Nixx spread out around them from their vantage point, was what Dan had dragged Phil up here for after their testing session. From up on the balcony of the ninetieth floor (Human Resource Management, but the balcony door was never locked and it had the best view out of anywhere they could sneak into) they could see far out across the city from the fancy shopping district and space elevator in the east to the crammed and dilapidated apartment blocks to the far west and even, if Dan squinted, the generators that ringed the city powering the Barrier that protected them all from the dangerous winter storms here on Manas (it was up now giving a slight shimmer to the dark sky far above them- for winter, true winter was only a couple of weeks away even though it was seasonless in the heavily controlled atmosphere of Nixx). There was something beautiful about the glowing signs and towering stacks of buildings now that night obscured the hopelessness and the utter wretchedness of it all. There were very few things Dan was going to miss about working for the Travellers but this view was one of them.   


“It’s beautiful isn’t it. No matter how many times I see this view it’s still so beautiful” Phil muttered, voice dimmed in awe as he leaned on the rough stone of the balcony railing.  
“Yeah” Dan agreed, still staring at Phil’s face before coming to his senses and looking away. Out here there could still be cameras and Dan didn’t trust the darkness to hide them- not even from the cameras embedded in their vests as part of the sensors on them.   
The Travellers controlled people- their agents, their factory workers, their soldiers- by getting hold of something that they held dear whether it be family, possessions or personal attachments. The moment the Travellers had something like that they could hold over you, you became “Useful” and the Useful ones always died first.   
Dan shivered unconsciously.   
“Oh, are you cold?” Phil was looking at him again, concern clear in his eyes “Do you want to go back in?”   
Dan shook his head and wrapped his bare arms around himself, regretting not changing into a jumper after training, but the only ones that went with his armour were still getting washed.   
“I want to watch the lights” the _with you_ remained unspoken on Dan’s lips. There were a lot of things he wanted to say to Phil that were doomed to stay unspoken in the graveyard of Dan’s lips.   


“Let me warm you up then” and suddenly there was a warm arm around Dan’s shoulders and a warm body pressed against Dan’s side and warm breath tickling Dan’s neck and it was all he could do to stop himself from melting completely into Phil and his warmth.  All thoughts went out of his head as it seemed to automatically find Phil’s shoulder and no matter how uncomfortable the angle his neck was at Dan vowed to never move from this spot if he could help it. Phil’s hand had made its way off Dan’s shoulder, traced slowly and hesitantly up the back of his neck into his hair, gently twisting the curls that Dan kept on catching Phil staring at so longingly (and in a way that Dan felt kind of mirrored how Dan felt about Phil’s quiff).

Dan snaked a hand slowly around Phil’s waist feeling him relax, and lean his head down slightly to rest on Dan’s- and it was perfect, a perfect stolen risky moment as Phil’s lips pressed against Dan’s forehead and his arms wrapped around him like a blanket, holding him close.  
They rarely did this, risking discovery clinging together like drowning sailors, but maybe it was the high from the exercise, or the contentment from completing another mission safely (or maybe even the blurry memory of how good Phil’s lips had felt pressed to Dan’s in that club only three nights ago complete with the knowledge that even after everything else Phil was _his_ and he was _Phil’s_ and that was enough) but whatever had caused this Dan was thankful that of everything that had been taken from him at least he still had this- Phil solid and warm beside him, even if it could only be for stolen moments few and far between.

****

“Phil-” Dan started, his voice a hushed whisper, unwilling to break the beauty of the moment but this was important and he was feeling brave (or foolish depending on which part of Dan’s brain you listened to)  
_I’m leaving the Travellers- alive, if I can- will you come with me?_

A door shut loudly somewhere in the corridor of offices behind them.  
Dan leapt away from Phil like he’d been shot with a stun bolt leaving Phil to over balance and almost faceplant the hard concrete of the balcony railing.   
Silence reigned while Dan cursed himself for being so jumpy and Phil struggled to regain his composure.

“We should go inside, it’s late and-” Phil’s voice was small and sad and trailed off with all the ways he could have ended that sentence (though knowing Phil he would have gone with _I’m sorry_ even though nothing about what just happened was Phil’s fault. Dan shouldn’t have bought him up here knowing something like that could happen).   


Dan’s courage left him as he held open the balcony door for his partner and they retreated from the safety of the darkness and glowing neon colours to the harsh white of the walls, floors and ceiling lights of the Travellers Headquarters.

****

_“Oh”_   
_That probably hadn’t been the reaction that Phil was expecting but that was the only thought in Dan’s head as Phil’s lips left his._   
_Phil shifted away from him, his long fringe hiding his face as he shuffled towards the edge of Dan’s bed. Dan looked down at the controller he was still gripping, the game still running on the screen in front of them filling the newly made gap with tinny music._ _  
“Sorry- I...” Phil’s voice was barely audible and his face (or what Dan could see of it anyway) was bright red._

_Dan paused the game, then wished he hadn’t when an awkward silence replaced the upbeat music._ _  
_ _“...I’ll just go-” Phil was scrambling about trying to put his shoes back on while still holding a controller and balancing on the edge of Dan’s bed. Naturally it ended in disaster and with more apologizing and- why hadn’t Dan moved yet?_

_He told himself to speak but his lips were still tingling and he didn’t really know what to do with the sensation._

_Phil had made it to the door of Dan’s room, shoes half laced up and still bright red._   
_“I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow at training?”_   
_Tomorrow was their day off. They’d both been looking forward to it all week, had plans to go to the coffee shop they both liked a couple of blocks away._   
_“Wait.” Dan’s voice was finally working again “I didn’t mean… I meant… Oh”_   
_“Good oh?” Phil’s voice had taken on a much more hopeful tone_   
_“Yes…?” Truth be told Dan’s emotions were kind of a mess but they were mostly positive “I was just, um, surprised and, well I never expected you to… to… ”_   
_And now Dan was panicking because this was a fucking terrible idea and if they got caught- no, he couldn’t think about it. Dan had been fine having a crush on his best friend and fellow new recruit, had laughed at Phil’s jokes and had gaming nights together and tried to be supportive as they both got through the grueling physical training- perfectly fine with never doing anything about it (well, not perfectly fine, and he had spent a fairly large amount of time gushing about him to PJ, but fine enough not to say anything to Phil), and now… and now Phil had kissed him. He had kissed him. Gently. On the lips._ _  
That was a thing that had happened._

_“Really?” Phil was smiling now, a huge beaming smile that Dan wanted to keep on being the cause of but couldn’t look directly at for too long, instead looking down at his feet buried in the soft blue rug and fiddling with the bandages on his arms and trying to fight the oncoming waves of panic that were threatening to engulf him._   
_“I mean, we were in the middle of a round of Mario Kart” Dan aimed for humour and missed, but Phil giggled anyway._   
_“... I see your point” Phil was back in the room now, approaching Dan like he was a startled deer “Do you want to, uh, finish the round then?”_   
_“Um…” Dan’s chest was feeling tight and right now all he wanted to do was curl up into a ball under his duvet and sort this all out in his head. Summoning his courage he decided to start how he meant to go on_   
_“I, um, need to sort some things out first- in my head I mean. Like- I like you and you like me and… that was a lot of likes wasn’t it”_   
_“Well I like you a lot” There was a moment of uncomfortable silence_   
_“That was cringier than I thought it would be” Phil said giving an awkward chuckle and nervously fixed his fringe while Dan cringed. A lot._   
_“I mean- you and me- I… I’m ace Phil”_   
_“You told me- and you also said that that wasn’t the same as aromantic and it didn’t mean you couldn’t have fulfilling romantic relationships and… I don’t care if your ace Dan. I’m good with whatever you want this to be.”_   
_“Oh.”_   
_Phil was still looking at him hopefully and Dan felt his face burning. Phil was ok with… But there was still the whole problem of what to do about the contract they had both signed prohibiting them from getting into a relationship with another agent (or trainee agent in their cases- they still had half a year of Basic Training left)._   
_“I’ll, um, see you tomorrow Phil. For- yeah. I just need to… think”_   
_“I heard overthinking is bad for your health” Phil murmured as he turned to go, the door of Dan’s room opening for him._   
_“Wait.” Phil spun and suddenly Dan was there, right up close, with no memory of getting up off the bed and crossing the room._   
_Dan trailed a hand through Phil’s fringe then ended up cupping his face. He watched Phil’s eyes drop from his eyes to his mouth then back up again, and took the plunge, clumsily closing the gap between their lips for a brief second before backing away._   
_Phil’s hand dropped back down from where it had been curled around Dan’s waist._ _  
Dan wished his arms weren’t so painful or they would be wrapped around Phil right now._

_He cleared his throat then smiled up at Phil shyly_   
_“Tomorrow morning Phil. Coffee”_ _  
Phil nodded then walked out through the door, a smile tugging at his mouth. Dan watched him disappear down the corridor then sighed and crawled into his monochrome patterned bed. He had some things to think about._

****

A message pinged on Dan’s wristband, waking him from his fitful nap. He swiped his hand over it and a message from PJ appeared on the now activated holographic screen. He promptly deleted it- the contents would be nonsense anyway, but it was from PJ and he knew what that meant.  


Traveller HQ was situated in the high end of the Business District, it’s spotless pathways, striking buildings and well looked after roads seeming like a world away from the dilapidated Factory District on the other side of the city, where Dan mostly patrolled. It was strange to walk the walkways, not along the labyrinth of alleys and tunnels that made up the floor of the city- or the floor of the Factory District at least. The Business District had its highways at ground level with flashy silver cars still rushing through it even now when the sky was dark, the white lamps that lined the path were glowing and most of the population were asleep (Dan half hated being called at these times, but it was always an experience walking through the upper levels of the city in the early hours, a break in what could sometimes be a repetitive job of patrols- if there were no cases to be worked on of course. It wasn’t like he had a choice of the time anyway, PJ called him when he called him, and PJ hated lateness).  


Dan hurried along, a grey figure under the bright lights casting a dark shadow onto well-trimmed shrubberies as he made his way through one of the many suspended gardens, then the aesthetic flower boxes that lined the railings looking more well cared for than even a self sustainment program could provide (they were probably tended to by a Tuathanian gardener- stereotypically the best, their planet was known as ‘the garden of Grian’). He passed few people- in this ‘safe’ area few troubled the streets this late, or roused this early. Dan kept his head down and his hood up- no good came from the walkways this late, even here in the heart of the city.  The flowers soon turned to ornate steel railings then rusty iron fences as Dan left the sprawling Business District for the (less well cared for) Warehouse District.  


The walkway got more dilapidated the further he went, cracks spreading over the concrete floor like roots and rusty metal railings being the only thing protecting Dan from the (at least) ten story drop to the ground. The lights that had been so plentiful were now few and far between, the muted glow from the surrounding buildings and faint light of the barrier became his only guide- for a wristband’s glow was a good way to attract attention and attention was one of the things Dan really didn’t want.  
Eventually he made it. Shuttles rushed by below him on the main highway out of the city. Dan leant on a rather unsteady railing and breathed a sigh of relief that hitched in his throat when he felt someone approach behind him. He spun, a hand automatically going for the gun at his waist.   


“Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”  
Dan could almost feel PJ’s smirk, hidden by his hood but definitely there.   
“You make that joke again and I will shoot you”   
“Oh I don’t doubt it”   
Dan let his hand drop and turned back to the shuttles rushing by below him. PJ joined him against the railing which let out a slightly concerning squeak then settled.   
“So, you summoned me”   
“You still want to leave?”   
“Yeah”   
“I can get you out”   
“Really? Seriously? PJ-” Dan caught himself as PJ looked around to check no one had heard. Names were not to be said at these late night meetings, especially now that PJ was so high up in Observation. The Travellers would have no problem with sacrificing Dan to gain some more control over him.   
“There’s a condition”   
“Of course” Even PJ traded in favours and information, Dan had learnt that long ago. There was an ancient saying passed down from the Earthens- there’s no such thing as a free meal- and Dan had found that philosophy everywhere he had ended up.   
“I can get you off the planet, and connect you with people who will help you properly disappear- tracer out, new identity, the whole lot but there’s something I’d like you to take with you when you go. Some files of high priority would disappear with you, and somehow make their way into someone else’s hands. Their importance would increase the priority of finding you and if you are caught the punishment would probably be execution”   
Dan took that in for a second then nodded. He had expected something like this when, last time they met, PJ had said he might have a way out but it would involve a detore with some of his ‘friends’.

Dan didn’t know much about PJ’s friends, and that was probably how it was supposed to be. PJ was a man made of mysteries  
“Could I… could I take someone else with me?”   
PJ paused for a second before nodding   
“It would be more dangerous but yes, you could take someone else with you”   
The sound of the traffic below them muffled out whatever PJ said next but Dan could probably guess the gist of it. PJ had often warned him of the dangers of getting too close to Phil.   
“I’ll do it”   
“Are you sure?” PJ sounded slightly surprised but Dan nodded   
“Yeah”   
“Okay, well then- do you want to work out the details now or…?”   
“I want to leave literally the first moment I can, and get out of here safely. Is there anything else you need to know- I trust you to plan, so you don’t need to tell me anything about your ‘friends’ that I shouldn’t know”   
“I’ll message you when I’ve sorted it out then, and- be careful, there are a couple of rumours about you and a certain partner going around. People are watching”   
At that PJ took a couple of steps away then hesitated and half turned, the dim street light above him partly lighting his face under his hood. Whatever he was going to say was left hanging in the air though as he turned and continued walking, disappearing like the spectre he was into the darkness of the other side of the bridge, leaving Dan alone with ice in his heart.

****

__________

****

Phil laid his wristband out in front of him on the slightly sticky canteen table and rubbed the plaster that had been underneath it so it stuck down again. Dan, across the table, glanced up then went back to demolishing a bowl of cereal (a bowl he said he felt judged for fetching because “Yes I know it's just a dispenser but there was this pause when I pressed the cereal option like it knew that it was 3 in the afternoon and it was judging me, it was judging me Phil”).   
He couldn’t blame Dan for feeling slightly uneasy- medical’s always made him hungry too and there was just something about this one that put him on edge. They were never usually given this intense a medical after returning from the field- or even this amount of tests. Normally it was just a debriefing and a quick once over by the medics, not blood tests and fitness trials. ****  
** **

His wristband pinged, the sound muffled from where the speaker was facing the table and Phil frowned. There were very few things that he had notifications on for and almost none of them were good. In fact the only good possibility could be ruled out as Dan was playing around with his cereal, not messaging Phil. Pushing aside his coffee (the machine stuff was never as good as homemade but he had needed the caffeine boost and even just the warmth of the drink was comforting) he touched the screen with slightly shaking hands and felt his heart drop when the device projected a message from the Commander.  
_To Agent #01910_   
_Due to your outstanding shooting ability and excellent mission success rate you have been nominated for the shortlist of potential Special Branch recruits. More details will be given in our upcoming meeting, the specifics of which will be added to your schedule, but we sincerely hope you are as excited about this new opportunity to benefit yourself and the company as we are._   
_This information is confidential and is not to be shared._   
_Congratulations_   
The Commander ****  
** **

The coffee cup next to him went flying as he dismissed the message, causing the dozen other people in the canteen to look up and Dan to make some kind of strange surprised sound.

 

Special Branch. Phil trembled at the thought. The Traveller’s Elite agents where the useful, desperate and skilled ended up. An almost guaranteed death sentence and even those that lived were barely human. Sure, the position came with benefits- nicer quarters, better gear and armour, better pay, but at the cost of the shreds of privacy that any Traveller employee still had, more mechanical enhancements and usually a person’s life.

Being an agent for the Travellers was bad enough. Phil had been forced to get invasive enhancements, had taken part in military takeovers of strategic resources, had patrolled streets in areas where people had started complaining about Traveller treatment. He had bribed officials and scouted trade routes, hunted and caught those just trying to make a change (just a couple of days ago he had helped catch an Eirich dealer whose cries of betrayal as they broke cover he could still hear), had operated a ship during the blockade of Tuathanas when the planet hadn’t agreed to the Traveller’s trade deal on the food the planet produced- and for everything he had been forced to do, for everything he complied with he hated himself (and some rare nights after particularly bad days Phil would sneak down the two floors to Dan’s room and they would curl up together on Dan’s bed and he would try and reassure Phil that he wasn’t a bad person, that he had no choice, that it wasn’t his fault, that he was here for his parents and his brother and that he was protecting them- but Phil could never quite believe him and he knew that Dan didn’t quite believe his own lies either).  
But Phil had never been forced to kill someone. And that’s what Special Branch was, a fancy name for the Traveller’s assassins and harbingers of fear and chaos- and Phil knew that if he joined them there was no way he would ever forgive himself for what he would be forced to do. ****  
** **

“Phil, Phil are you alright? It’s just a cup, they break all the time, come on I’ll clear it up for you. Let me go fetch some tissues”

Dan. Phil watched him cross the canteen to the dispenser and felt himself fall further into this pit of panic. He was going to have to cut Dan away too if he got this “promotion”. It would be too dangerous, for both of them, to even keep up the supposedly ‘casual’  they had going on (though truth be told there was nothing casual about it but Dan had said right at the beginning, right after crashing into Phil’s arms, that they could be nothing more than ‘casual’ so casual they had stayed- until now, when even casual would be too much, cost too much for too little). The thought was unbearable, to lose even the small part of Dan he was allowed to have. Dan, who even now while cleaning up Phil’s broken coffee cup was shooting him concerned glances but staying a reasonable distance away, probably over-aware of the people still seated at the tables around them.

****

Suddenly Phil had to go, had to get out away from the quiet chatter and clink of smashed ceramic and Dan’s concerned looks. It felt like he blinked then found himself on his feet, a couple metres away from the table saying “I need to clear my head” or trying to anyway but all that came out was a mumble and Dan, still on the floor, just looked confused- and then he was out and hurrying through the corridors with no idea where he was going. ** **  
****

There were a couple of things Phil usually did to calm down. He could watch a Buffy marathon (but he knew he couldn’t pay attention to it with his mind racing as it was, and this time it wasn’t because Dan was squashed up on his tiny sofa next to him), throw himself into Dan’s arms (but this was not the place for that, especially not when Observation would be watching him more keenly than usual due to the testing for the promotion) or shoot until his breathing calmed down and all he could feel was the cold metal of the gun in his hand and the burst of satisfaction from hitting target after target after target. ****  
** **

His feet lead him through the twisting corridors of the lower levels of the Traveller HQ building, past the huge obstacle course and gym to the shooting range. He presented his wrist to the scanner only to realise that he had left his wristband behind so he jumped over the low gate instead, and already felt himself relaxing as he picked up one of the practice pistols from the rack and made his way up to the shooting line. This he knew. The target in front of him shook slightly at the onslaught of blue laser bursts that hit it, all grouped right in the centre (blue for stun, red for kill. Phil dreaded the fact he would be forced to flick the switch to the red setting soon if his promotion went ahead). The familiar feeling of the gun recoiling in his hand as he fired calmed Phil slightly, and even as he moved the target further back to make it more difficult he felt his mind start to wander as muscle memory took over.

****

Phil remembered a barely adult Dan watching him in awe during their early training, remembered blushing and looking down when Dan called him amazing. Phil wasn’t amazing, he’d just had a lot of practice, those long days shooting the mutant rats in his favourite vr game with his brother springing into Phil’s mind unbidden. He missed his family. He missed the fields and the old apple tree that never made any apples and the way his mum would smile and kiss him on the head when he showed her the amount of kills he had gotten in the game. Of course there was nothing left of his old family home now, not since the Travellers arrived on Meinn after the planets rich mineral deposits and quietly took over his old village practically forcing all the inhabitants to work in the mines they set up by increasing the price of all Traveller goods (everything from cars to toothpaste) so that the only way to afford those things was to get the discount that came from working for the company, and in the process destroying the fields and the apple tree and everything Phil had really loved as a child, but it was nice to imagine his mum still baking in the kitchen while his dad read the newspaper with his feet up on the table and his brother tinkered with some machine or other.  
Phil had no idea where his family were now- he lost all contact when he had left the planet aboard a Traveller ship to again reduce their cost of living and increase the discount on the (still too expensive) goods. Dan had told him repeatedly that it was probably for the best that he had lost contact so they couldn’t be used as blackmail over him but still the loss of them hurt.  ****  
** **

It hurt more now that he was being forced to lose Dan too.  
No- more than that. He was being forced to cut Dan away, pretend that what happened between them didn’t happen, and all while still having to work together.   
He was going to have to hurt Dan just to stop the Travellers from hurting them both so much more.   


The target in front of him was at its maximum distance and Phil could still hit it near the centre. It was covered in scorch marks as Phil tried to drive all of his feelings through the gun and out in the bursts of blue laser fire.

****

__________

****

Phil had left his wristband on the table. Dan had just about saved it from the coffee but now had no way of returning it, no way of messaging Phil to find out if he was okay, where he was, what had caused him to run. He had been to all the places he could think of- Phil’s room, their balcony, the indoor garden on floor 112 and the common room but there was still no sign of him. It had been over an hour and Dan was starting to get worried. ****  
** **

Dan found himself in the lower levels of HQ, barely paying attention to his surroundings and internally very worried about Phil. His feet led him to the gym and down beyond that to where a familiar figure was decimating a target.  
Dan could have slapped himself.   
Yes, it had been a few months since Dan had last found Phil down here, but Dan knew that the shooting range calmed Phil down.   
Dan watched, as much in awe as he had been when he had first seen Phil shoot during the early days of basic training, as Phil aimed carefully at the target his shoulders relaxing and his hands steady and took the shot. It landed almost perfectly in the centre of a target that was about fifty meters away, another scorch mark in a sea of them.   


Quickly flashing his wrist on the scanner Dan made his way through the gate and over to Phil, touching him lightly on the arm. Phil turned and something seemed to light up in his expression when he saw Dan but was just as quickly lost as Phil turned his gaze away and downwards at his feet. Dan just wanted to push Phil’s chin gently back up and see that small smile again, and probably would have risked it if not for Phil’s closed off body language. Something was wrong.  
“Phil, are you okay? You ran off- it was just a cup and I cleaned it up nicely, no one's going to notice. You left your wristband too- it's in my room”

Dan found himself rambling nervously and Phil wasn’t meeting his eyes. At least they were alone down here- Dan had something to ask.  
“I, er, have a friend who could, I mean, has offered to-”   


“Dan”  
Phil’s hands were shaking. Dan watched him slowly put his gun down and fiddle with the edge of his jacket before pushing both hands deep into his pockets. Phil’s eyes remained on the floor as he continued slowly as if bracing himself.

“Could you just, leave me alone”  
“Oh, um, yeah. Of course. I’ll-”   
The breath was knocked clean out of Dan’s lungs.   
“Not just for tonight, I mean”   
  
There it was- the words that Dan knew were coming, had predicted were coming for years and no matter the words that had been whispered on quiet nights, the careful promises and silent confessions, the “No Dan, I’m not going anywhere” early on said in surprise, later said with such confidence that how could Dan not believe him? Yet he’d been right, the part of him that whispered that no matter what he did, what he said, Dan was never going to be enough for Phil, not good enough to be his partner, not open enough to be his friend, not _enough_ to be in a relationship with him (for who would want a relationship with someone who could never be attracted to them like others could, could never go as far as others could, could never give them a ‘normal’ relationship like others could- let alone a beautiful talented nerd like Phil) and eventually, like everyone else, he would leave.   
  
“How long are we talking here? Are you really that sick of my company?” Humour, defence mechanism number 2. Phil wasn’t laughing, didn’t even meet Dan’s eyes, mercifully not acknowledging the crack in Dan’s voice.   
“Forever, Dan. I’m asking you to stay away forever.”   
Phil’s gaze finally met Dan’s, filled with regret but resolute. He had meant every word.   


Right there, right there and then, something in Dan gave up.  
“Do I- do I get a say in this? Do I get to know _why?_ Phil you know what you mean to me, I- we’re partners, how am I going to stay away from you?” _How could I ever stay away from you_

Phil turned away towards the shooting range, towards the target he had been decimating.

“They’re promoting me Dan- Special Ops. We promised, remember”  


Oh. Dan did remember. One of the first things that they’d agreed when they started their relationship- if anything happened that put the other at risk they would break all contact. It had been difficult to say at the time, but now facing the reality of it was a nightmare.

  
“Phil? Please this is important, we can get out of here-”   
“What’s important to me right now is you leaving” Phil’s shoulders were hunched and his hands balled into fists in his pockets and the small part of Dan that was not having a meltdown because of Phil cutting him off took a moment to appreciate the irony of what Phil had just said.   
“Phil?” Dan stepped forward and reached out his hand but Phil backed away like Dan was holding a plasma bomb and Dan tried to hide the hurt from his face but whether he succeeded or not didn’t really matter as Phil was back to not looking at him. Maybe he knew that if he met Dan’s eyes Dan would refuse to go. Maybe if he met Dan’s eyes he would lose the will to honor their promise and make Dan go (Dan kind of wished he would, despite being the one to make him promise).   
“Please, I- don’t make this more difficult than it already is… just please go. I’m doing what you asked, what you said… cut all contact”

Phil sounded ragged and trailed off as his attention was caught by another person walked into the shooting range, high heels clicking on the stone floor. Dan vaguely recognised her as one of the higher-ups (mostly by her lack of sprung boots). This was just getting worse.

“Dan”  
Phil’s voice was heartbreaking as Dan stood there, torn. A new message on his wristband caught his eye his decision was made.

****

Even as he was walking away Dan knew that he should turn around, that he should run up to Phil and grab him by the hand and drag him away from the high-up who was now talking to him, knew that he should take him to PJ and beg him to help them, knew that he shouldn’t leave like this, run like this, but turning around and facing Phil would take more courage than he currently had and _why did he never fight for the things he wanted?_

Rounding the corner Dan had to physically stop himself from looking back at the man he loved and yet was abandoning. ****  
** **

The message had faded off the screen of his wristband, but the image of it stuck fresh in Dan’s mind. From the secure channel he and PJ had for emergencies, a single word.  
Run.

****

Run was a warning, the only one he would get. When he and PJ had first realised how dangerous simply existing as part of the Travellers was while being friends (well, PJ had. He’d then had to explain to Dan the exact nature of the company they were employed by, it had been a real eye opener) PJ had set up the channel and they had agreed on codes. Some for meeting places, times. A couple of ‘how are you’ codes, ‘danger’ codes, ‘surprise inspection’ codes. One that Dan did not want to think about- a ‘burn everything’ code.   
One for absolute emergencies- ‘Run’. Where there was no choice of staying and for every second stayed within Traveller confines there was a greater risk of death.

Very few things could trigger a ‘Run’ warning. Dan wasn’t an Eirich agent, he hadn’t done anything illegal, the only thing that could trigger this warning would be the discovery of his relationship.

They hadn’t been careful enough he supposed, mind detached from a body that was currently shoving clothes into a backpack, and now if they stayed one would probably be used as leverage over the other. But- how had they been caught? It wasn’t like they regularly snogged each others faces off in public, in fact they rarely acted on more than friendly feelings unless they were off planet or hidden away in one of their rooms, Manas was too heavily Traveller controlled.

The balcony had been a mistake, but two people hugging on a balcony was hardly enough to launch a case for ‘high emotional attachment’, it had to be something else.

Then Dan’s memory triggered, the club they had traced the Eirich trader to, across the city. They had been on a mission, were probably being monitored but they hadn’t been wearing their armour and Dan had let his guard down (well, not quite, but that was the lie he had told himself about that night). The alcohol had tasted fruity on Phil’s lips in the middle of the dance floor.

****

He cursed himself and his stupidity now though, shoving his coat in the top a bulging rucksack, knowing wearing it in the controlled atmosphere of Nixx where there was no rain predicted until Winter started would look suspicious.  
He changed quickly, picking comfy nondescript clothing, but hesitating over his shoes. To stick with blending in he should wear civilian shoes, but his sprung boots are far too comfortable and useful to leave behind. His gun went in the top of his bag.

Dan paused at the door, looking back at the room that had been his for the 6 years he had been based on Nixx, working as an agent for the Travellers.

They had spent so much time in this room, gaming, laughing or just hiding from the world. Dan looked around at the posters and gaming consoles and the patch of carpet Phil had spilled coffee on last month then shouldered his bag and walked out the door, hearing it hiss shut behind him. Now was not the time to get emotional.

****

(He kept his head down and his hood up as he made his way across the district on the walkways, tried to blend in with the people around him as they wearily made their way back to their high end flats on the outskirts of the business district. He spent the time thinking he caught sight of Phil in the crowd, thinking about if Phil would be okay, thinking about what would happen if he made it out like he had been dreaming- but in Dan’s dreams of escaping he had always thought of Phil by his side. Now Dan was alone.)

****

PJ met him on the bridge- hood up, glasses on, eyes tired. He nodded at Dan as he approached, a quiet greeting, before gesturing to the other side of the bridge. The cars and transports buzzed by far beneath them as Dan followed PJ into the shadows of the Warehouse District. ****  
** **

They walked in silence- the walkways were no place for the conversation they needed to have and anyway Dan didn’t feel like talking. Not now. The warehouses that gave the district its name loomed overhead, casting long shadows in the low light of the second dusk- the first sun having already dropped below the horizon and the second one following close behind.

PJ strode with purpose leading Dan along. He had always come from this direction when they met- which had never made sense to Dan as all Traveller employees were given quarters in or around where they worked, and PJ being so high up in Observation meant that he must have a nice room somewhere in HQ, yet chose to sleep somewhere else. Where, Dan didn’t know, and PJ was never very forthcoming with personal information- neither was Dan to be perfectly honest. He supposed he was going to find out now as PJ flashed his wristband on the scanner next to a rusty iron door and gestured to Dan while it squealed open.

****

“Come on” PJ set off down the plain white corridor but Dan stopped short at a familiar logo emblazoned into one of the walls.  
“PJ” he begun, turning nervously and taking in what was clearly a camera above the door they had just come through “Why are we in a Traveller warehouse?”   
The pitch of Dan’s voice rose with every word. PJ turned, still relaxed despite the fact that his hood was down and his face was on display to a camera while accompanying Dan, something that normally had him pacing and mumbling plans about how to get and delete the footage.   
“Where else would I find an abandoned warehouse with a security feed I can control?” PJ shrugged then continued “There’s a story in that actually-”   
“You almost gave me a heart attack Peej”   
“Oh um, sorry about that. I’m not really... used to explaining myself. I suppose there are more things I should explain”   
“That might be helpful” The sarcasm was defence mechanism number 1 but Dan was still recovering from the scare. PJ set off down the corridor again leaving Dan to scramble to catch up.   
“They found some footage of your last mission. Someone was going through your logs and footage from the club, routine checks mainly. They saw _something_ happen on that dance floor. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about” PJ turned back to look at him, over his shoulder. They were walking down the corridor passing unmarked doors and staircases that probably lead down to the main body of the warehouse. Dan distracted himself by looking at the orientation signs to avoid meeting PJ’s glare.   


“Anyway, they had been suspicious for a while but- Dan that was so stupid. You gave them concrete proof, actual video footage of you and him… You don’t need me to tell you how stupid that was, do you. HR had a field day. They just had to decide which one of you to keep, and you’ve seen Phil’s shooting ability. He’s already been flagged as a Special Branch assassin, and they’ve only had this to hold over him for less than a day. You to hold over him for a day I mean. They were sending a squad to take you in tonight- to charge you with breaking your contract and chuck you in a cell. I had to warn you to get you out” PJ went quiet for a minute and Dan, a couple of steps behind him, asked his question, the only question that had mattered to him since he walked out of his room.  
“He’ll be okay right?”   
“He’s too valuable to them not to be. But” PJ slowed down slightly, enough for Dan to catch up, enough for Dan to look him in the eye and see the utter sincerity as PJ said “I’ll look out for him, when you’re gone. I’ll get him out too, I promise.”   
“Peej, I-” Something warm wormed its way into the void that currently was Dan’s chest. It took him a couple of seconds to recognise the emotion- gratefulness. Phil would be alright at least. Dan found himself suddenly extremely thankful that even after all this time he still had PJ by his side.   


PJ had been in the Travellers for longer than Dan had- he didn’t really know the specifics- but Dan had caught him doodling on the staff photo in the Observation office one night during his first year of training, when he walked in there by accident and PJ had immediately hit him in the face.   
Things had kind of lead from there. He was Dan’s friend, mentor and guide, the voice of caution and of strategy though not always one of… affection. Occasionally PJ would be in charge of observing Dan’s missions, sometimes even travelling off planet to be the voice of reason in the earpiece of certain difficult situations. Those days were much rarer now that PJ was somewhere in the upper reaches of Observation, but at least PJ could still help him here at HQ (as PJ got promoted he began to have less and less time to hang around with Dan until he outright disappeared for a long while until he started messaging Dan again last year, and had returned a different man. Dan didn’t want to ask, and PJ certinately didn’t want to tell).

****

“- And to answer your unasked question about why I control the security feeds in here, the head Observer of this rotten old building owes me a rather large and dog shaped favour”  
It wasn’t the smoothest change of subject that Dan had ever heard but it was quite clear than PJ didn’t want to continue that particular conversation anymore and Dan was quite happy to take the exit offered to him.

“A dog shaped favour?” He asked, raising an eyebrow  
“Yeah” PJ laughed (a rare feat, at least since he had returned) “You know Mark, that loud muscley guy with the bright red hair, the one that runs the gaming club in the main lounge at HQ on Wednesdays? Well one night I was back here for- well, anyway I heard someone making some really strange noises and when I went to investigate I found Mark rolling around on the floor down in the main storage area, cuddling this- very against company policy- yellow labrador and doing that weird voice thing that people do to dogs and babies”

Dan snorted with laughter at the mental image.  
“As you may imagine he was quite shocked to see one of his superior Observation officers walk into the warehouse at the dead of night, and well, by the time I had reassured him that I was not going to report Chica to any of the higher ups we had an agreement” Pj’s face became slightly smug “And I get to pet and look after a dog occasionally”   


“How long have you had this arrangement PJ”  
“About a year now”   
“And you didn’t think to tell me! Do you have any idea how much I’ve missed dogs? How much-” _How much Phil’s missed dogs, how much I loved discussing which dog I would get with Phil, how much I would have loved to dog sit with Phil and see him smile and play with the dog and know that I made him smile like that?_ He was going to end with a joke but the pain in Dan’s chest grew with every possible end to that sentence and he lapsed into silence.

****

“Through here” PJ broke the silence that had fallen between them a couple of minutes later, gesturing through the unmarked door he had just unlocked “We don’t have much time- they’ll realise you’re missing soon and start looking out for you at the elevator. Let me grab a couple of things then we’ll get out of here”  
“You’re coming with me?”   
“To the elevator station, yeah. Thought you might like the company, and I have a couple of things I want to go through with you- the plan, for example”

The room was coated in shadow but Dan could make out machines and cupboards along the walls and a doorway at the far end that a faint blue glow was coming out of.

  
PJ reached over to a switch on the wall, and suddenly the whole room was illuminated. There was a desk scattered with papers and small machines and a vast array of different coloured pens, a huge tv on one wall hooked up to a bunch of old consoles in front of a battered sofa, and a small kitchen area where an army of cups stood to attention. A guitar leant against the wall in one corner. There were three doors on the back wall, one a bathroom, one ajar where the blue light had come from, and one closed.   
“PJ do you live here?” Dan asked in incredulation. Looking up from where he was now rummaging through one of the many cupboards that lined two of the walls, PJ nodded.

  
“Where did you think I lived, the main accommodation? With the cameras outside every door and no peace and quiet?” PJ huffed “How would I run a vast criminal underbelly from there?” It was said as a joke, but with an edge to it. Dan had often wondered how far PJ’s net of favours went.   
“No- I was looking around for a new place last year, which is how I ended up in here to catch Mark. Anyway he told me about all the unused rooms up here- this warehouse was originally supposed to be a hospital or something, then later converted. Mark offered me use of this floor. There are others around here somewhere, it’s kind of a place for people who don’t want to be found. The warehouse is barely used anyway”   
PJ pulled a data stick from the depths of the cupboard with a triumphant hum, scattering a bunch of papers on the floor. Dan picked some up- sheet music of some description or other. ****  
** **

“Catch” Dan dropped the sheets in surprise as the memory stick was hurled towards him, hitting him on the arm and almost falling to the floor too.  
Across the room PJ snorted   
“How did you manage to survive the Traveller militia for six years with hand-eye coordination like that?”   
“Well it wasn’t exactly by choice was it” Dan shot back, glaring. Basic training had not been fun, and it was probably only because of Dan’s natural talent of blending into crowds (despite being a tall noodle) that had let him graduate up from just a soldier to an agent.   
  
“Anyway- download that onto your wristband. Hopefully it’ll come in handy. Let me just find-” PJ’s voice faded out as he walked through the door that had been glowing.   
“Does this have those files you wanted me to deliver too?”   
“What?” PJ’s face appeared around the doorway, frowning   
“Those files you wanted me to take- are they on here too?”   
“You still want to do that?” PJ’s voice was incredulous and Dan felt his face heat up   
“Well, yeah. You’re getting me out PJ, I thought this was the favour in return”   
“I’m getting you out because you are my friend, and I’m not going to let you rot in a Traveller detention centre until Phil loses his value and you both end up dead.” PJ’s expression was serious, his voice grave “Why did you ever think that me helping you was dependent on you doing a job that you had nothing to do with, for me? I’m getting you out whether you help me out or not. However-” PJ smiled slightly   
“If you are still willing to help, I can get the files. Give me a minute” ****  
** **

Oh. That was all new information to Dan. He’d just assumed that their deal was still on and that was why PJ was helping him- but maybe he’d just vastly underestimated how much PJ cared.  
Feeling embarrassed, he activated the memory stick and wirelessly connected it to his wristband, waiting for it to copy over.  Dan browsed through the files while he waited- there were city maps and shuttle timetables, even a map of the whole Grian system, the six inhabited planets and the eight moons with the highest population, ranked in terms of Traveller influence and survivability. Littered over the system were multicoloured dots- labeled in a key to the side.   


Dan drifted slowly across the room and through the glowing doorway still fascinated by the map- only to look up once he was in the room and promptly drop the memory stick he had been holding on the floor.  
PJ looked up from where he was rummaging through a wardrobe across the room.   
“Could you destroy that map if you get caught- I mean I suppose you will have bigger problems when you get caught but if you could just destroy your wristband or something I suppose that would work, or maybe just take your wristband off or something so they can’t get at it...”   
Dan barely heard him rambling.   


“PJ why the fuck do you have a girl in a tank?”

PJ paused  
“Oh” His voice was smaller, softer than usual “That’s Sophie. I’m waiting for her to wake up.” and with that he went back to rummaging through the sheet music.   
Dan looked from him to the unconscious girl in the tank, a tight catsuit covering her from neck to ankle with her curly hair haloing her head where it was suspended in the pale blue glowing goo.   
“I’m sorry, are we not going to talk about this? You have a fricking unconscious girl in a suspension tank in your living quarters!”   
“I am well aware” PJ adjusted his glasses then went back to rooting   
“You could have- what are you even looking in there for- you have someone suspended in a tank in your fricking room PJ. I mean who even is she- was she? Do you normally keep people suspended in tanks? Should I be worried? A bit of warning or context would be nice”   


“Well what the fuck am I supposed to say!” PJ spun around to face Dan, his fists curled and his lab coat wrapping around his legs “‘The agent I’m in love with is now in a medical tank in my room and I’m waiting for her to wake up from her fucking coma so we can run away together, and that is why I never approved of your relationship with Phil’, is that what you expect me to say Dan? Is that what you fucking expect me to say?” PJ ran a hand through his hair and turned away, breathing heavily. Dan stood in shocked silence, he’d never heard PJ get angry like that before.  


“Sorry, I-” PJ sighed after a couple of moments where the only sound was the hum of the tank, his shoulders slumping as he curled in on himself slightly “Didn’t mean to get angry at you, I-” Dan stood there in shocked silence as PJ seemed to gather himself  
“You want answers… I- she was an agent like you, just like you actually, but they had something over her. She never told me what, would just smile sadly and shake her head whenever I asked. Back then I was lower down the food chain, only really in charge of sending out the orders and collecting reports. That’s where I first met her actually, handing her a tablet containing mission orders for some dangerous operation or other that wasn’t entirely officially sanctioned. She smiled at me as I handed it to her, I’ll always remember that smile. Scared but brave. I had to watch, day after day, week after week as that smile faded. Sometimes she’d come back after particularly bad ones and we’d just curl up on the sofa out there, not talking, me trying to hold her without irritating the cuts and bruises or the points on her limbs where her implants hurt. And then she would cry and I would just hold her and rock her against my chest and feel utterly powerless, and a couple of days later I would hand her mission orders and she would smile that sad smile and the cycle would start again.”

PJ’s voice was barely a whisper and Dan wanted to reach out and pat him on the shoulder and tell him everything would be alright but they were never really ‘hugging’ friends, or close friends at all. Dan wished they had been though, wished he could have hung out with PJ without the risk of being caught, wished he could have played video games with Phil and PJ and Sophie on PJ’s giant TV, wished they could have been normal friends not a senior officer who took pity on the lost agent who stumbled in on him doodling on the staff photos in the Observation common room. ****  
** **

“Then one day, one day there was no daily report. I did everything, messaged her, called her in on comms, even asked one of the other agents infiltrating the same pirating group to look out for her. Nothing. This was before the tracer was introduced so we had no idea where she was as her armour had been destroyed, the trackers and sensors with it. Three days later someone figured it out. There had been a nasty fight within the pirate ring and she’d somehow been involved. A passer by had found her unconscious in an alley in Garbh and took her to the hospital there, and we both know what happens to agents who end up in hospitals in places they aren’t officially supposed to be.” PJ took a deep breath  
“I had to get her out of there before someone got rid of her, but I didn’t know where I could take her. Warehouse Three used to be the main Traveller Hospital until that got moved nearer HQ and I knew they left some of the bulkier equipment here. Mark showed me these empty rooms and the tank, then enlisted Sean from the medical department, you know, the one with green hair and an odd accent, to go and get her with me. We barely made it in time. Sean transferred her- apparently he’s also a Chartered doctor named Jack or something- and we got her out of there, sending a report to the Travellers saying she had died. Sean checks in on her every week and he seems quite confident that she’ll wake up when she’s ready. It’s just a matter of time”

  
“Peej” Dan walked slowly towards him and opened his arms and PJ rested his head on Dan’s shoulder and tried to sniff discreetly while Dan patted him on the back. After a couple of seconds PJ pushed away and swiped at his eyes under his glasses.   
“How long have you been waiting?”

“About a year and a half- I know I stopped talking to you for a bit, while we were… and then after. I just couldn’t-” PJ took a deep breath and looked down.  
“She’ll wake up”   
“Yeah”   
They both stood there in silence for a second watching the bubbles slowly rise through the gel in the suspension tank, PJ seemingly lost in thought and Dan wondering what Sophie would have been like if he’d met her.

“For the record” PJ cleared his throat slightly “I’d like to say that I think you and Phil are adorable and if it had been almost any other situation I would have supported you- but I know how relationships like these can end and I couldn’t let what happened to me happen to you.”  
“It’s not like it matters anymore” The words fell out before Dan could stop them   
“What? No, I’ll get you both out. I promised didn’t I? Then you could go out and live the life you wanted to- together”

****

Half an hour later a shuttle pulled up at the Space Elevator station in the centre of Nixx. A tall young man climbed out, shouldering his bag and shivering slightly in the crisp Autumn air. He looked back at the retreating tail lights of the shuttle that had bought him there- already headed back towards the Warehouse District- ran a hand through his curly hair, then squared his shoulders and walked into the station, sprung boots squeaking slightly on the well polished white floor as the words “May the stars keep you safe” rang through his ears.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2! All chapters will be posted tonight it just might take me a little while to format them. By the way you can find me at @phanofstars on tumblr if you want to say hi

Manas spread out below the rapidly ascending Climber that Dan was on, the mostly water covered planet littered with glowing dots Dan knew to be cities. The hundreds of small islands shone, with Nixx- the capital- glowing brightest below him on one of the largest land masses. From this far up all the cities looked the same, bright patches surrounded by glowing rings Dan knew to be factories. There was a reason Manas was known as ‘the home of technology’- everything was processed here then shipped off around the system, usually with a Traveller brand.

There was a storm heading across the vast Eastern ocean- probably the first of the winter storms which battered most of the planet and had caused so many problems when the Earthens had first settled here. Now most cities were protected by domes but some places still didn't have that luxury.  
Looking down on the planet always made Dan feel small, and this trip was no exception. There was nothing quite like it.

  
The Climer was quite empty, with few people wanting to leave the city now that they might not be able to get back for a couple of months, but there were a couple of other people in Dan’s side of the double disk shape including a clearly devoted pair of women who’s cuddling and fond glances hurt Dan to look at, a teenager who had been glued to the window with the breathtaking view below and a green faced businessman who had been curled up for the entirety of the two hour climb so far, groaning.

****

Dan pushed his way back to his seat, away from the darkened glass of the window (the elevator was powered by a laser beam from above that could blind people if they looked at it so all the glass was darkened). The pilot announced that they would be arriving at the space port that acted as the elevator’s counter-weight shortly.  
There was a bump and a hiss from the middle of the climber, where the two large wheels were clamped either side of the thick ribbon of the elevator cable outside the carriage but visible through the glass.   
The businessman seemed to somehow pale more and let out a high pitched squeak. Dan knew that the sound was the elevator starting to brake, but even so it still made him panic. Usually when it happened Phil would subtly reach out and give Dan’s hand a squeeze and he would be too distracted by Phil’s cold hand in his to worry but this time there was no Phil to nudge his shoulder and smile reassuringly, only Dan. Phil was roughly thirty-five kilometres below him on the planet’s surface, probably sleeping. It was one am after all.

****

He wondered idly if Phil even knew he was gone yet, or if the officers had turned up to arrest him where the tracker in his armour said he would be only to find his empty room.  


PJ had said that he would try and delay the discovery as long as he could- he was on duty this morning, but even then there was a limit on how long Dan had to get away.  
After 48 hours without his armour on a tracer embedded in his left bicep’s enhancements would activate, sending a signal out broadcasting his location once every 4 hours. He had no idea exactly when that would be but he could approximate.   


It wasn’t only advice and help PJ had given him- Dan now had the files he had promised to deliver downloaded and some new subtle body armour the Travellers were testing that he was currently wearing under his hoodie. He had two new destinations marked on his map as well, one on Buth to deliver the files, then one on the moon Taar to get new documents and his tracer removed (it was a delicate thing to remove as if done incorrectly it would shut down all of Dan’s enhancements and being unable to walk or move his arms would probably inhibit his ability to run away when they eventually found him).

****

He needed distracting, Dan decided, trying to pull his thoughts away from those darker paths (trying to not think about what would happen if they caught him, what would happen to him, to Phil, to PJ if they found out it was him who helped Dan...) so he loaded up his Space Playlist from his wristband to his earpieces- doubly useful as they contained a universal translator which was an invaluable tool and assisted his hearing- and tried to put his mind at rest before he had to go through the stress of customs and interplanetary shuttles at the rapidly approaching port, Orbital One. The music that normally calmed him only made him more restless however. His attention was caught by a notification from his messenger that made his heart jump, but it was a message on his and PJ’s secure channel, ‘Connection cut’. Almost subconsciously he found himself closing that channel and opening up his most recent conversation.  


But no, he had promised PJ- it wouldn’t be fair to him or to Phil if he kept doing this, jeopardizing Phil’s chances of being truthful about not knowing Dan was leaving (and Phil was a terrible liar) and making this more painful for the both of them. Instead Dan closed the projected screen down and tried to concentrate on the music again (the one message he had sent weighed heavy on his mind but he had needed to say something to Phil, whether Phil would actually want to read it was a question to add to the growing list of things he didn’t really want to think about).

****

__________

****

Nixx at night was never quiet. Phil tossed and turned in bed, listening to the gentle hum from all the electronics in his room, the distant sound of shuttles racing down the highways far below his room, the rare shuffle of feet outside his door as his fellow agents stumbled in from their nights out.  
Restless, Phil rolled over again trying to find a cool spot on his pillow and reached for his wristband to check the time only to remember once again that Dan had it, and that got his head spiralling once more.   
Dan’s face as he turned and walked away had been playing on a loop in his mind since it happened- while Louise was talking to him, while he grabbed some food, while he tossed in his bed- just Dan’s face and its transition from confused through dejected to desolate as he glanced down at the glowing screen of his wristband, then its journey as it rearranged itself in a mockery of determination the second before Dan turned to half-stumble away.

****

Louise had called him out on it, had called him “dead behind the eyes” in a parody of their younger years, when Phil would zone out during their HR and management lessons and Louise would say he was missing behind the eyes.  
It had been years since those days- they had both been worn down by time and experiences, and Louise was now juggling being a mother and working as an assistant to the Commander. What with her full schedule and Phil’s off planet missions it had been months since they’d last spoken, yet she’d made an effort to find him in the shooting range and for what? Some pleasantries about his promotion and how long it had been since they’d last seen each other and then what was probably the second source of Phil’s sleepless night

****

“I know this is a good opportunity but- these things come with sacrifices and I think- I think you should be prepared to sacrifice someone- I mean, something you care about in trade for this one” And Phil had thought _if only you knew_ , but then she continued much quieter and softer (more like the Louise that had looked after him in his two years working to become part of the HR department before he failed his exams and had been transferred over to Basic Training)   
“And I don’t think it’s right you don’t at least get a chance to say goodbye” and looked meaningfully in the direction Dan had left.

She’d left soon after, saying that they should definitely start their coffee and cake mornings again, and hugging him for a couple of seconds longer than usual, leaving Phil alone and confused.

 

He hadn’t wanted to see Dan, to take back the words he knew he had to say to him- he was protecting Dan wasn’t he? Distancing him so Dan wouldn’t be used to control him when he got this promotion (and it was a when not an if- Louise had alluded to as much) but still- Louise’s comment had unnerved him.  
Phil was starting to lose his resolve, his conviction that he had done the right thing. Maybe it would be better if he found Dan and sought the comfort only he could provide for one more night- but it would be harder, most definitely harder to leave again in the morning.  

But now was the time to go, the late hours of the night where nothing said under the cover of darkness felt real, where the hard realities of the morning couldn’t yet hurt them.

Phil had been sucked into the draw of these small hours many times before with Dan, and even now could not resist their call.

****

He would go down to Dan’s room, he decided. Just to see. Just to soothe the pool of dread in his stomach and calm the echo of Louise’s words.

****

The glare of the hallway lights made him squint behind his glasses as his tired eyes adjusted and with the light came the regret and doubt and- was he really doing this when only 10 hours ago he had told Dan to stay away from him permanently?  
But he was out of bed now, there was no point in going back just to toss and turn some more (and it wasn’t like it was the first time either he or Dan had said they were going to stay away from each other then broken it almost immediately- though not usually to quite the extent that Phil had, not breaking one of the promises their relationship was based on. Phil tried not to think about that).

Phil padded down the corridor in his slippers, deciding to take the back stairs rather than the lifts that required going through the main common room. His shuffles echoed in the stairwell and glancing down the middle at the spiral of stairs that dropped 63 floors made him feel dizzy and grip the hand rail tighter. So what if Dan would laugh at him if he saw- it was 2am, Phil was allowed to make stupid decisions, like this one for example.

Dan’s floor was much like his own- white lights, tiled floor, doors stretching along a corridor that took up three sides of the building each labeled with names and numbers and ranks and no ounce of personality to be seen. Phil had once joked that the entire HQ needed a feature wall to fill it out and Dan had huffed a laugh then searched up feature wall ideas to see if any would suit his room.  
They both took interior design very seriously.

Pausing outside Dan’s door Phil felt a wave of doubt hit him. Would it be weird- Phil didn’t even bother to finish the thought knowing the answer already. Yes it would be weird. Walking into the room of your secret… boyfriend? Partner? They’d never really discussed it- they were just Dan and Phil and if sometimes they cuddled in bed together, or stole a kiss on a balcony it didn’t matter, couldn’t matter- walking into each others room at 2am couldn’t matter either (but it did matter, especially after their conversation).

****

His hand hovered over the admittance button, a fingerprint scanner below the notice that proclaimed

_1704_

_Daniel Howell_ _  
_ _Agent- Support Class_

in the most boring font Phil had ever seen (Dan had once stuck an almost identical version over it- except in Cosmic Sans. The janitors had not seen the funny side).

Distant laughter echoed down the corridor and drove Phil to actually press his finger down because being discovered loitering outside your partner’s room at 2am was probably worse than sneaking in to check on said partner. The door slid open (Dan had put him on the always admit list) and immediately Phil knew something was wrong.

****

Dan’s sprung boots weren’t obnoxiously in the doorway for Phil to trip over like they usually were. The door slid shut behind him but in the couple of seconds where the light from corridor lit the room it revealed an empty bed and Dan’s wristband missing from the bedside table.

Immediately Phil went into full on panic mode, the night from 4 years ago springing fresh into his mind as if the cold winter air was still biting at his skin, Dan stood in front of him in that garden saying “I don’t know if I can do this Phil” then breaking down into his arms.  
But- no. Dan had promised that his late night wanderings had stopped.

The light helped give some more clues. Someone had rooted through the cupboards in a hurry, clothes strewn around the room and doors hanging open in a way that Phil knew Dan hated.  
One of Phil’s old hoodies lay screwed up at the foot of the bed and he didn’t know if that was a new addition or if it had been down their awhile but seeing it just lying there in Dan’s empty room did something to his chest.   
His hands worked mechanically folding the jumper then placing it down gently on the rumpled bed sheets.

****

Was it his fault that Dan was gone? Had asking him to leave really caused… this?  
Maybe Dan was out walking again, or needed some space and time to process what he was being forced to give up (Phil definitely needed that) but- why would his cupboards be looted if he had just gone for a midnight walk?

****

Maybe Dan had just gone and left, properly left now that he couldn’t be with Phil anymore but- Dan would have told him, wouldn’t he, if he had a way out? They had made plans (tentative plans but plans all the same) to escape this living hell together, to see more of the solar system and all the things it had to offer. Phil would find his family again and they would get an apartment somewhere nice with a feature wall and a dog and Dan would- Dan would finally be free to be whoever he wanted to be, whoever he was under the mask he rarely lowered. The Dan that peeked through when they played video games together on Dan’s couch, or tangled their feet together while sipping coffee in some space port or other, or when he laughed unashamedly at one of Phil’s amazing(ly terrible) puns. The Dan that swore and screamed and kissed and cried- the Dan Phil loved and was loved by in return.

  
Dan wouldn’t leave without him unless he absolutely had to.

****

Louise’s comment from earlied hurtled around Phil’s brain  
_“I don’t think it’s right you don’t at least get a chance to say goodbye”_

Could they have taken Dan?  
Phil sank down onto the bed, drawing his knees up to his chin. As much as he couldn’t bare to think about it- well, it was possible, probable even.

Too many things had happened recently for this to just be a coincidence: their extra tests, Phil’s promotion, Louise’s comment, and now Dan’s disappearance. They had to be linked.

****

Could their relationship have been discovered? It would explain his promotion and why Louise had known to try and warn him. The extra tests could have been a health check to choose which one of them to keep (just thinking that made Phil feel sick but he needed to rationalise this, needed to think clearly or rather as clearly as he could at 2am). They could have sent Internal Affairs after Dan, could have fetched him while Phil was avoiding him, could have charged him with breaking his contract and put him in a holding cell to be used as leverage over Phil. He could be in a cell right this moment, hurt and alone with a future dependent on how Useful Phil was.  
  
Phil put a hand over his mouth to stifle the sob that was building in his throat. His legs half buckled under him and he sunk down onto the bed.   
But- no- there had to be another option. Dan’s rucksack was missing from its usual spot in his cupboard and his name was still by the room. When agents went AWOL all evidence of them existing was usually destroyed. 

It was possible, just possible, that Dan had gotten out and Phil sent a helpless, wordless prayer to the stars above that he had.

Sitting neatly on the bed was a wristband (the right side of the bed, Phil’s side of the bed whenever they played video games in Dan’s room, the side Phil slept on the occasions he slept here, the side of Dan’s bed Phil thought of as _mine_ ). Phil’s wristband.   
Phil reached for it with shaking hands seeking the familiarity of its weight on his wrist in this chaos of the unknown.

The band snapped itself into place, the projector displaying all the notifications he’d missed. Phil swiped away some junk messages, a software update notification and various news articles of questionable validity before he reached a notification that had his heart in his throat again.

Today 0:12  
Sorry

****

“Sorry” Phil said aloud. Sorry seemed like the only explanation he was going to get for this empty room. Sorry, quick and simple that said nothing much and everything all at once.   
Sorry couldn’t tell Phil where Dan was, couldn’t tell Phil when he had gone, couldn’t tell Phil why Dan was apologizing but allowed Phil to guess about all three.

Sorry let him know that Dan was gone to an unknown fate outside this bubble of hell they’d been living in for the past 6 years (well, 6 years for Dan, 8 for Phil).

Hope bloomed in his chest, hope that punched the air out his lungs and squeezed his heart tight because if Dan wasn’t ok, if the Travellers had him, if they caught him, even if Phil never found out what happened to him it would hurt and was hurting.

(And as selfish as it was Phil had been relying on Dan being here with him through this even if they couldn’t be together, and now Dan was gone- hopefully to somewhere safe but Phil secretly kind of wished that he was still here, lying next to him on this bed playing with his hair and whispering sweet nothings to the cold night air).

Collapsing down on the bed, his heart bruised and his limbs heavy, Phil cocooned himself up in sheets that still smelt like Dan and flicked out the room light using his wristband.

****

_Dan sat beside him, young and unsure in a uniform that didn’t fit and with bandages still over his arms from his first enhancement operation._

_The trees waved around them scattering multi coloured leaves over the path and across the field and whipping Dan’s fringe in his eyes and all Phil could think was ‘how are you this beautiful?’_

_Their coffee cups lay empty beside them on the park bench, in the space that Phil really should be using instead of being pressed up against Dan like this from ankle to shoulder._

_“So...” Dan broke the silence, bringing Phil back to the subject they had been avoiding, the subject they needed to discuss._ _  
_ _Phil nudged his shoulder after a second prompting him to continue._ _  
_ _“If we’re going to do this” Dan started hesitantly, eyes on the neat pavement of the path “And I want to, I really-” he looked up suddenly, the intensity of his gaze surprising Phil a little “I really want to. I just- couldn’t deal with it if because of this, something… happened to you.”_ _  
_ _Dan was back to looking out at the park, determinedly watching the dog walkers jog past before they started their well paid jobs where they didn’t have to worry about if having a relationship would lead to one or both of your deaths._

_Phil felt Dan’s shoulders rise and fall with each breath, glad he gave Dan the time to sort himself out, to deal with whatever he had panicked about yesterday- when Phil kissed him (that was a thing he had done, he still couldn’t quite process it). He’d found Phil this morning, their day off, and Phil had blurted out “Coffee?” so they had ended up here, in the park that reminded Phil of home, with empty coffee cups and words that needed to be said._ _  
_ _“There’s some things that I need you to promise me” Dan continued, voice barely audible above the wind- stronger here in the Suspended Garden than was probably intended by the atmosphere engineers, but it felt realer here. More like the worlds outside the controlled bubble of Nixx._ _  
_ _“Firstly- I need you to promise me that I am enough. That you don’t feel like you’re sacrificing something to- commit yourself to me. I’m probably never going to want sex, Phil, and that’s just me and my lack of sexual attraction and nothing to do with you and how attractive you are.”_

_Phil’s hand, that before had been resting on his leg, slowly made its way between them and found the block of ice that was Dan’s hand. He held it gently for a couple of seconds then gave it a squeeze as Dan wrapped his fingers tighter._ _  
_ _“Secondly- if anything happens, anything at all, that could put us in danger because of this we cut all contact immediately. Someone paying more attention than usual to us, promotions- anything. I couldn’t deal with it if… if anything happened to you because of me. This can only be… casual”_ _  
_ _Phil hesitated for only a second_ _  
_ _“I promise”_

****

The sound of an alarm dragged Phil away from his sleep, the persistent beeping from his wristband dragging from his dreams back to the land of the living. Light streamed in through the window, disorientating Phil as it took him a second to figure out why the light was coming from the wrong place.

Oh, right. He was in Dan’s room. Dan’s emptied room.

His wristband was still buzzing and he swiped at it blearily while fishing around for his glasses. Whatever had triggered his alarm must be important, he reasoned, finally making contact with his glasses half under the other pillow.

A second later he almost wished he hadn’t.  
The message that had set him an alarm was from the Commander, and he was to report to Observation in 20 minutes.

****

Phil had always thought that HQ was arranged oddly, the two parts of the Travellers business lumped together in one huge building. On the lower floors there was everything to do with the enforcement side- the gym and agent accommodation and the briefing rooms and detainment cells, even a floor for the representatives who attended the Grian Council meetings (as useless as they were since the collapse of the government, for it was now the megacorporations who held the power and none were bigger than the Travellers- of course the representatives still went for show but people knew who was really calling the shots). On the upper floors was the business side with offices filled with project managers, sales workers and graphic designers, floors made entirely of labs where new products were designed, made and tested.   
Right at the top of the Enforcement half was Observation, with its huge rooms and giant mounted screens keeping track of Agents and their missions, but also with departments watching the population and sales and reputation and news. The people there observed all.

****

Squeaking slightly, the automatic doors to Observation Room One opened in front of Phil. It was the largest Observation Room, with desks of computers ringing the walls and arranged in a block in the centre. On the right wall was a map showing the 6 inhabited planets and all the inhabited moons of the Grain system, giving the rooms users a humbling view of how far the Traveller’s influence had spread. Every inhabited planet had an office, every moon had at least one shop selling Traveller products- whether under the company’s name or not. Next to the map statistics and graphs that meant nothing to Phil any more cycled through.

This was probably where he would have ended up if he had passed his HR exams well, and not scored so highly on the Agent Aptitude Test.

****

The Spectres working at the desks nearest the door looked up as he stepped further in, then went back to their screens. Most desks were full, but scattered around the room there were chairs neatly tucked into desks. Could he have fit in here? Would he have been happier?  
But no- because here he wouldn’t have met Dan, wouldn’t be able to explore the system they way he had, would never be able to escape even if just for a little while in their free time after missions. Spectres rarely left the office they were assigned to- he would never have left Nixx, would never have seen his home planet again. In some ways that might have been a mercy, but still Phil was unconvinced that it would be worth it.   
He couldn’t really imagine being in here for shift after shift, only watching the world outside through screens.

****

Phil’s attention was caught by the screen at the front of the room with several files showing on it including a map of Nixx, a file on the Eirich and, more importantly, Dan’s information file (he was glad to see half the information was still missing, at least Dan still had that small blessing).  
In front of it stood three figures.

One was the Commander, her dark skin and braids threaded with white complimenting her dark suit, creating an imposing figure that was known to cast fear into the hearts of the many whose lives she controlled. Next to her and contrasting almost comically, stood Louise her assistant advisor who also happened to be Phil’s old friend and mentor.

They appeared to be having an argument while the third person who Phil assumed to be in charge of Observation, a quite tall man in a long white coat and rounded glasses, watched on.

****

Phil hesitated across the room not knowing whether to approach them or not but feeling awkward standing in the doorway like he was. There was an empty desk a couple of metres away from him so he sidled over to it a sat down, activating his wristband and looking busy to avoid the confused glances of the Spectres next to him.

(He was actually going through his messages to Dan, reading that sorry over and over again and debating deleting it- even though the people here probably had access to the server copy of his chat so it would look suspicious if he did and he kind of wanted to keep Dan’s last message to him- and that thought made him freeze up for a minute until his heart picked itself up off the floor).

****

Louise’s raised voice cut through the low hubbub of the room  
“I’m sorry ma’am but I refuse to believe that Phil- Agent 1910 would betray us like that”   
The room fell silent bar the quiet hum of computers, allowing Phil to hear the Commander’s response clearly   
“What you believe or not does not matter, what matters is the truth and right now we have one agent who goes missing as we are about to detain him- probably with a bunch of our copied files- leaving his partner who he may or may not have been in a relationship behind”   
“But-” Louise tried to interrupt again but was cut off   
“We need to find out how Agent 1704 knew we were coming for him, where he went and who helped him. This could cause a crisis- if the information he does know gets into the wrong hands… he helped bribe the Council members! If the Eirich find him that gives them information to use against us, and if it gets whispered in the right ear at the Council-”   


They didn’t know where Dan was. The thought buzzed around Phil’s head again and again. Dan had gotten out. Dan was free- and with the winter storms predicted to come in within the next couple of days there was no way a large scale hunt could be sent out for him in time.

Even with his tracer scheduled to activate in a day and a half- or whenever it had been 48 hours since he last wore Traveller armour- and send out its signal once every 4 hours there wouldn’t be enough time to catch him now unless the Commander asked for help from one of the other offices and even then that would take a while to organise.

****

“But-” Louise tried to interrupt again but was cut off  
“We need to consider all options, and Agent 1910 helping his partner is a strong one”

“How does that make him connected to the Eirch?”  
“Who else would know we were coming for Agent 1704, it had to be someone on the inside, possibly the Eirich leak we’ve been searching for”   
“Their last mission took out one of the key Eirich suppliers in Nixx!”   
“And we sacrifice our own agents all the time for a whole variety of reasons including to keep our dealings undetected. Your point?”   
“I just- ugh” Louise threw her hands in the air and turned away from her boss to glare at all the Spectres that were now looking intently at their computer screens.

“Agent 1704 had to have someone to tell him we were coming for him, its significantly unlikely that he just decided to leave, or somehow randomly got his hands on that information especially considering he left his partner behind”  
“You don’t know they were-”   
“Would you like to watch the video again?”   
The Commander tapped some commands on her wristband and a video appeared on the main screen of a club Phil kind of recognised.   
The CCTV footage played, showing a dressed up Dan and Phil standing on the edge of the dance floor swaying slightly to blend in as they took turns glancing over at something off screen.   
Phil looked away as on screen Dan’s hand reached out and took Phil’s as the lights dimmed lower. He didn’t need to see what had happened next, the scene was much clearer in his memories, and the thought of that moment being dissected and ripped apart frame by frame by people who… who had no _right_ made his chest constrict and his eyes screw shut.

The chair next to him squeaked and Phil opened an eye to see the Spectre next to him looking at him with sympathy. She smiled sadly and turned back to her work.

Phil had to look away and blink hard, distracting himself by trying to clean something off his armour that just turned out to be another scuff mark. Maybe Dan was right about him needing new armour, he was supposed to look neat and official in front of the Commander.

****

“I still don’t see how your argument makes Phil an Eirich traitor!”  
“Agent 1704 rarely communicated with anyone else, and with him gone we have nothing to hold over Agent 1910. A way to protect his partner and remain a free agent. He has the motive”   
“That doesn’t mean he did it!” 

“Ladies”  
The head Observation officer spoke up for the first time   
“Why don’t we just ask Agent 1910 himself, he’s right over there”

****

“So, Agent 1910, as I’m sure you will have discovered by now your partner has gone missing. It is suspected, due to the fact he left his armour behind, that this disappearance was of his own violation and a breach in his contract. As you know getting him back is a vital task however our main special branch squads are either on duty elsewhere or would not be able to gather and get off planet before the winter storms arrive tomorrow.”  


Phil let out an internal sigh of relief and sunk down a little bit into the rather comfy chair he had been offered in the small office they were in off of Observation Room One (the office that was clearly not the Commander’s by the amount of colour, the walls covered in paintings and the strange devices littering the desk).

“Luckily, we have you”  
Phil’s heart dropped to his feet

“You two were partners for how long exactly?” The Commander probably had both his and Dan’s files in front of her, there was no way she couldn’t know.  
“Four years ma’am” Phil decided not to include the two years they spent in basic training together   
“And would you say you were… close?”   
Phil debated lying but decided it was useless knowing the Commander already knew about their relationship   
“Yes ma’am”   
“You… are aware of the company policy on this matter aren’t you- that all relationship requests must be submitted to the board to be approved”   
That rule was only in place so that the company could know who had become Useful   
“Yes ma’am”   
“So you admit wilfully breaking company rules” The Commander leaned back in her seat, bridging her hands together on the desk between them. Phil looked down at her sharp nails to avoid her sharper gaze.   
“It was a… ” Phil floundered for a defence, grabbing the first plausible one his brain came up with   
“We- it was a casual thing” (there had been nothing casual about it, but it was the lie they had told themselves and Phil clung to it like a life ring)   
“We were both busy, not much time for, you know… It was occasional and- convenient” The lie tasted bitter as it left his lips, how could he have reduced Dan to- to that? Dan was so much more   
“Nothing worth reporting” His voice trailed off.

The Commander tapped one sharpened nail on the wooden desk  
“Let’s hope that was all it was, for your sake” Phil could tell she didn’t believe him- yet she was letting him get away with his lie.   
She had something planned.

The Commander twisted her chair away from the desk then began to pace the room, her shoes (flats- her war on being forced to wear something as impractical as high heels to succeed was infamous) clicked with every step.  
“How much do you know about the Eirich?”   
The change of subject gave Phil a minor case of mental whiplash leaving him silent for long enough for the Commander to continue without him   
“They are an organisation who believe that megacorporations like the Travellers are bad for society, believe that our ability to ignore the law and have our own militia will eventually lead to us taking over the Council- we already control most of it anyway- and are trying to discredit us and create competition so we lose power and profit. And you know what- they are probably right. This company is bad for society. We’re morally corrupt, run by a greedy board of directors and control the lives of approximately half the people in this star system- but we came here voluntarily, you and I. We signed a contract and are now bound to until we’re released or die. We have a duty, and families to protect.”   
This was definitely going places Phil did not expect- he could never have imagined the Commander to be forced to be here as well. Phil idly wondered what or who they had over her.   


The Commander turned to face Phil  
“Which is why you have to catch Agent 1704 and either bring him back for justice or dispatch justice yourself”

Oh.

“The board of Directors have decided that the breaking of a contract is a serious crime that must be punished to set an example to the other agents”  
“And… if I refuse?” Phil could hardly find his voice. They wanted him to find Dan. They wanted him to kill Dan.   
The Commander glanced at him   
“I would not advise that. After all there is already cause to doubt your loyalty and someone like you is too… talented to send to the factories. Consider this a chance to redeem and prove yourself, after all this is something you’ll do as part of Special Branch”

Phil had to suppress the slightly hysterical giggle that rose in his throat  
“I’ll do it”

“Good. The mission briefing will be sent through to your wristband in a couple of minutes”

The Commander returned to her seat and activated her wristbands screen.  
“I hope, for both our sakes, that you succeed. We will be watching you closely”

She paused and looked down distracted by something on the screen as she halfheartedly gestured at him

“You're dismissed.”

****

_“I almost got us caught” Dan was curled up on his bed fiddling with his graduation hat “I almost got us caught”_

_“Dan-”_ _  
_ _“No. Don’t you try to brush this off. If you hadn’t heard those footsteps… ” Dan took a deep breath and curled up tighter into himself. Phil sat down slowly next to him on the bed, facing Dan’s back._

****

_It had been close, there was no denying it. Dan dragging him away from their graduation party and into the stairwell had Phil lightly protesting, but he’d put all his worries aside when he’d seen the look in Dan’s eyes. It wasn’t often Dan was like this._

_“Partners” he’d whispered reverently “Partners, Phil”_

_And then Dan had wrapped himself around him, and Phil backed up to the wall and they were kissing._ _  
_ _Phil had just about enough sense left to push Dan away when he had heard footsteps reach the door and someone pull it open._

_The Commander accompanied by one of the directors had walked through, both giving the pair a strange look. Dan had frozen until they were out of sight then dashed out of the door leaving Phil alone with a racing heart and messy hair._

****

_Phil reached out and slowly rubbed Dan’s back, wishing he could calm his rapid breathing and quiet sobs._

_“Dan, we’ll just have to be careful. You’re the one who’s always been saying that, and you’re right. I don’t want to give you up, to give this up, so there is nothing else we can really do. We’ve made it this far for this long- we can’t stop now”_ _  
_ _Phil couldn’t quieten Dan’s inner demons but at least he could try and make him feel better_ _  
_ _“We could get out of here” Dan voice was small and tired “Run away to one of the outer moons where they couldn’t find us”_ _  
_ _Phil lay down properly on the bed and put his arms around Dan, cradling him gently_ _  
_ _“We could get a farm and a house”_ _  
_ _“And a piano”_ _  
_ _“And you could teach me to play”_ _  
_ _“And we could breed chickens and try to stop you killing all the plants”_ _  
_ _“And live happily ever after”_ _  
_ _Dan gave a damp laugh_ _  
_ _“I’m sure that would work out well”_ _  
_ _“You are the one who suggested it”_ _  
_ _Dan shuffled closer, still with his back to Phil_ _  
_ _“You’re right, we’ll just have to be more careful”_ _  
_ _“No more making out in stairwells Dan”_ _  
_ _“Yeah, yeah- but don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy it”_ _  
_ _“I never said I didn’t, just that it was a terrible idea”_

****

The Culture Garden always smelt of home. Of all of the suspended gardens littered around the posher areas of Nixx this one was one of his favourites, probably because the person who had sponsored it had been from Meinn and had it filled with Meinnian plants. The wild blue flowers that thrived in the slightly acidic soil of the rocky planet looked washed out here in their neat rows by the side of the grey concrete path, but their smell brought back distant memories of playing in fields dotted with them with his brother and his friends from their town and Phil needed distracting right now. He took a sip of now lukewarm coffee and wandered slowly off of the rough concrete of the walkways onto soft grass and neatly laid winding paths. ****  
** **

This didn’t make sense. Why would they send him after Dan? Sure, he was in the running to be part of Special Branch, but surely there were more qualified candidates out there from other offices. Yet the task had fallen to him, someone they had proof was in some sort of relationship with Dan. Someone they possibly suspected to be an Eirich traitor. He knew that maybe they were just trying to get him out of the office, so what the Commander said about proving his loyalty might be true, but anyone with brain could see that this was a bad idea. Phil understood how it might have gotten passed the Board of Directors, but the Commander cleared all assignments and she wasn’t dumb. Maybe she thought the chance to monitor him worth the risk- but whatever the reason he had been given a chance to help Dan.

****

Louise would have supported the idea, he realised- Louise who he had barely acknowledged as he hurried out of Observation Room One, so desperate to get out, get away from the screens and the people and the quiet conversations that had stopped when he’d walked back into the room, all eyes turned to him.

****

The garden was peaceful with the weak winter sunshine filtering in through the barrier and the light breeze gently rustling the trees and bushes. A group of girls were lounging under a tree on the other side, no doubt enjoying their lunch break before they had to go back to the school that was a couple of walkways away, but other than them and the occasional passerby the garden was empty. No one was paying him any attention.

Phil found himself a bench hidden mostly from view and just let himself relax for a moment. Here, where the sounds and the smells reminded him of home, he let himself stop and breathe.

****

He could almost feel Dan beside him, laughing quietly and telling him how important self care was.

****

“I knew you were Meinnian but I didn’t really expect to find you here” The voice was familiar but Phil couldn’t quite place it. He reluctantly cracked open and eye, ripped out of his peaceful contemplation  
“Turning a piece of information in a file into something connected to a real person can be difficult I suppose”

The guy from earlier, the Head of Observation, collapsed down next to him on the bench.  
Phil sat up straighter and wished his armour was less broken and that he didn’t have a tomato stain on his leg from his pastry earlier. The visit to his and Dan’s favourite coffee shop may have been a mistake- not only did it make him more nostalgic but now he seemed like even more of a mess in front of another High Up.

“Er, good afternoon sir”  
“None of that ‘sir’ crap, I’m finally off my shift” Up close Phil could make out the dark bags under green eyes and the way his shoulders sagged with exhaustion   
“Oh, uh...” Phil floundered for what to say. Silence fell.   
“I’m sorry I couldn’t get you both out together”   
“What?”   
“I was relying on Dan to talk to you- a terrible idea I realise now, he really is the worst procrastinator I know, especially about the important stuff. Did you know he spent half a year whining to me about how he could never be together with you before you kissed him? I had to spend half a year listening to exactly how great you were.” He shook his head, brown curls bouncing slightly “Even I was relieved when you guys finally got together. Secretly though. I'd never tell Dan that”

Phil’s mind was racing  
“But yeah, I had plans to get you both out. Then that whole thing happened so here we are. Dan’s fine by the way. Sort of torn up for leaving you behind but mostly okay. He got the elevator up last night and should be on a shuttle now”   
“... What?”   
“I never introduced myself did I? I sort of forgot you don’t know who I am. Stupid idea that was- would have been so much easier to just talk to you myself but as much as I trust Dan’s judgement I didn’t really know that much about you. Other than your file- and how stunning Dan finds your eyes of course. How could I forget that” The man trailed off slightly, head bowing so his eyes were hidden and Phil couldn’t decide whether poking him awake would be rude or not. His shifting made the man start and push his rounded glasses back up his nose   
“Sorry, sorry- just got off a 14 hour shift and my brain’s slightly mushy right now. I’m PJ, Dan’s friend and the person who’s most likely to get you both out of here alive”

****

__________

****

“Fresh melons! Grown here on Buth- going cheap- only 2 quid each”  
The merchant shoved a large melon into Dan’s face   
“Oh, uh no thanks, sorry” Dan mumbled stumbling away. He heard the merchant grumble behind him then go back to his stall, still calling out about his wares.   
It was the fifth such encounter since Dan had exited the hotel door this morning and Dan was getting tired of the seemingly endless market that made up the centre of the city of Yaam. ****  
** **

He hadn’t understood the scale of it last night on his rather unpleasant trip down from Psi Two- the space station that serviced Buth the way Orbital One serviced Manas: a space port, mini city and the anchor of the space elevator- but now swerving through the crowded square filled with marquees and stands overflowing with holographic signs and all kinds of wares Dan understood why Yaam was known as the market of Grian. ****  
** **

Two men carrying a large roll of fine fabric between them shoved Dan roughly out of the way, causing him to almost trip over into the nearest stallholders baskets of fruit. She swore at him and waved him away as he apologised. Young kids is mismatched clothing raced passed him wearing cracked VR headsets and yelling about the incoming aliens. An old woman begged by the side of the road. Two men in Traveller uniforms glared down at the crowd from their station either side of the VIP elevator entrance.

****

They never looked at him differently, like they would have if he was in his uniform. They never shrunk away or sneered at him. Sure, they were being rude to him but he was being treated like any other person.

Dan embraced it all. It had been a while since he’d had an off planet mission and it was always a fresh reminder that life was different outside of the confines of Nixx and the Travellers.

****

A street vendor selling snacks caught his eye. Buying a hot muffin, then a cup of fresh juice from a neighbouring stall he wandered around to find somewhere out of the beating suns (and not sandy) to perch. The steps outside one of fancy sandstone buildings that ringed the market wasn’t his preference but it was close, his bags were heavy and his legs were killing him.

Buth was bigger than Manas (though most of the planet was uninhabitable until more terraforming could be done, only the poles could support liquid water) and so had stronger gravity. Dan’s implants assisted in combating the effect the change had but Dan knew from experience that his muscles would ache for a while before they got used to it.

Normally Dan would have Phil to make fun of his whining and then help him massage out his legs but-

****

Dan shook his head slightly and took a bite of his strangely spicy muffin instead. He couldn’t let himself dwell- he just had to trust PJ and do this job for him. ****  
** **

Using his (rather lumpy) bag as a backrest he stretched out on the steps getting himself as comfortable as he could before activating his wristband and loading the map PJ had given him. The streets of Yaam loaded, with a red dot next to an address. PJ had attached some instructions that he scanned quickly. Seemed- rather easy. ** **  
****

Shouldering his bag once more and checking the street he had to find (glad he had a better sense of direction than Phil who probably would have gotten them lost by now- if he was here that was. Dan wished he was here) he set out back through the crowd of brightly coloured stalls.

****

The building Dan found himself outside of roughly an hour later looked so unremarkable he was almost certain he’d gotten lost again. It was a large sandstone building with a domed roof and a rusty sign that read ‘Corn’s Mechanics- closed until further notice’ and fit right in buried on this street of similarly dilapidated businesses and bars. The tattered awning showered him with sand as he huddled under it making him yelp but he was glad of the shade it provided. The afternoon suns were beating down making anyone unused to the heat of the desert planet stand out like sweaty beacons. ****  
** **

Dan heard movement inside but could see none through the dusty shop window, covered as it was with posters and adverts, with darkened glass to ward off the warming rays. Summoning his courage Dan knocked hard on the glass door rattling it in its frame and with it the sign hung on the inside proclaiming the shop closed. He had a job to do and couldn’t let PJ down just because of some stupid anxiety (though in this case the anxiety was probably warranted).

****

After a couple of nervous seconds- and some whispers behind the door Dan could only hear because of his earpieces- the door swung slowly open with the bright peal of a shop bell.  
Two figures stood inside, faces hidden in the shadows, one by the door and one behind what looked like a counter.   
“We’re closed”   
“Oh um yeah… ” PJ had told him something to say hadn’t he “Sorry to bother you- I’m, er, here to see Corndog?” Dan felt his cheeks light up, PJ had probably gotten a kick out of making such a stupid password, particularly as he had found a way to make Dan say it to some complete strangers.

****

“Not another one… ” The figure further inside the shop muttered “Fine. You can come in.”  
Two pairs of eyes watched Dan wipe his feet carefully of sand on the welcome mat.   
He probably needn't have bothered for the inside of the shop floor was covered in sand and dirt anyway but in the back of his mind Dan could hear his grandmother telling him to remember his manners.

****

The door swung shut behind him as the guy holding it let go causing the bell to ring out once more.

****

“Who’re you from”  
The man at the door took a menacing step towards Dan, slightly ruined by how much shorter he was but still enough to make Dan inch back away from him.   
“Uh, PJ, I mean… ”   
“Let me guess, he gave you a really stupid name to say” The person leaning on the counter took a step forward into the light that was filtering through the window. Dan could see they were trying to hold back a laugh   
“What was it this time?”   
“Uh… planet kid”   
“Hmm, not the worst. Last time he sent this guy to say the bunchow, time before it was wiggles the clown. No idea where he gets the names from” They turned back to the guy still glaring at Dan “What was that other one again Theo- Buzzwald?”   
“Fuzzwald.”   
“Yeah, that”

Dan stood there fiddling with his wristband in the silence that fell, trying not to make eye contact with Theo(?) who was staring at him strangely. Instead Dan looked around the shop, noting the dust gathered on the counter, the discarded boxes of parts and the seemingly broken light.

“Do I know you from somewhere?” Theo’s voice was curt  
“Uh, I don’t really see how you would… I mean I rarely left Nixx except on missions- which is really sad now that I think about it” Dan found himself rambling “I mean, I’ve been to literally every inhabited planet but not for fun and not for that long either, and-”   
“So you are an agent.” Theo was glaring at Dan, arms crossed. Dan was about to protest but the Greenie interrupted before he could.   
“Calm down Theo, lets just take him to Cornelia and if he’s not who she was expecting we’ll just shoot him, it’s fine”   
“Fine- but if this goes wrong I’m blaming you Greenie” he turned back to Dan “Don’t think I’m not watching you”   


“Don’t mind him- his brother was a trader in Nixx and got caught about a week ago. Hazards of the job though” Greenie flashed a smile and led Dan through the mess to the back wall of the shop hopefully not noticing the way Dan’s face twisted at the mention of a trader in Nixx. Surely- it had to be a coincidence  
“Through here”   
There was a scanner there, hidden in the dark and they flashed their wristband to it causing the door next to it to slide open and sunlight to burst through.

****

Greenie led the way, loose blue cloak billowing out behind them as they sped ahead. Dan appreciated the fashion statement- the green hair and pink fluffy slippers really completed the look.  
Theo prodded him from behind to start Dan walking down the corridor, glaring up at him (he wasn’t even that short, Dan was just an oversized noodle). ****  
** **

At the end of the corridor (too plain and white for Dan) Greenie opened another door and led them into a workshop whose only occupant was a rather short red haired woman was hitting some sort of machine with a hammer and grumbling to herself.  
“Damn it Martyn, couldn’t you have fixed the toaster before you left- but no you had to leave and take the 6 month assignment and leave us without a proper mechanic”   
Every other word was accentuated with a hammer hit and by the end the toaster was looking significantly more dented. ****  
** **

Greenie coughed, announcing their presence and the woman dropped the hammer onto the table with a clang causing Dan to wince and turn down the volume of his earpieces (he probably shouldn’t have had them turned up so loud in the first place but he’d been listening to music earlier while lost in the backstreets looking for this place and the volume carried over when he stopped the music and they went back to enhancing his hearing).  
  
“So- you’re Dan, right? PJ told me about you”   
“Oh, um, yeah. I have some files”   
She nodded and tapped something on her wristband not seeming to mind Dan’s inability to talk like a normal person   
“Transfer them over- my link is open”   
Dan dutifully copied them over to the link that popped up then stood awkwardly as Cornelia scrolled through something on her wristband.

The workshop they were in, like the corridor they had walked through, was much cleaner than the shop. The walls were covered in shelves of tools and spare parts, half disassembled machines littered the work benches.  


“And we’re good” Cornelia dismissed her screen “He checks out- you two can go watch the shop front or something”  
Greenie nodded and turned to go but Theo stood his ground for a minute muttering until a strong glare from Cornelia sent him packing. Dan watched them walk away- the two contrasting in almost every way from their clothes to their builds to their attitudes.

Cornelia muttered something about Theo hopefully staying away from the bar two streets down.  


“So” Dan couldn’t decide whether he was more or less terrified with them gone but Cornelia was now giving him her full attention and it would probably be wise to listen to what she had to say  
“What happened to your friend?”   
The question was like a sucker punch from the void.   
“Ugh” _Yes, very dignified Dan_ , he thought unable to come up with a coherent answer   
“I shouldn’t have asked should I? Sorry, my curiosity got the better of me- see originally PJ mentioned two agents then just you turned up”   
“No its… fine” (it wasn’t and probably wouldn’t be until he saw Phil again- if he saw Phil again)   
Dan struggled with the words   
“He got, um, caught up”   


Cornelia nodded, her face understanding. Dan hated it, hated her pity when it was all his fault for leaving Phil behind. If he had just-   
The scene plagued his mind every time he tried to relax: on the cramped shuttle here, in the hotel last night, even wandering through the market. There were so many things he could have done, should have done and Phil would be here with him right now.

Dan could almost see him perched on a workbench, helping guide the conversation and making Dan feel less self conscious.

****

He wished Phil was here.

****

“The Travellers have taken things from us all” Cornelia gestured for Dan to sit down next to her “But you’ve helped us fight against them. The information you’ve bought will help- not to mention the Travellers will lose two good agents. Eventually we’ll bring them down and avenge what we’ve lost. That’s what the Eirich are here for”  
“Wait- you’re the Eirich?” Planets alive, Dan felt dumb. Of course.   
Cornelia smiled gently   
“What did you think we were?”   
“This means- you… PJ” Things started slotting into place, memories that had never made sense coming alive with new context.

****

PJ always knowing far too much, even for his position. PJ having an escape plan for Dan. PJ’s paranoia, his adamancy to stay away from their accommodation, his ability to set up secure channels of communication…

How had Dan never figured it out before?

(He supposed it was because he had learned far too long ago not to question all the small mysteries surrounding his friend. PJ was and always had been a private person and would share with Dan what he was comfortable with sharing. Dan had understood, having some of his own things to hide)

****

Laughing slightly Cornelia watch his confusion evolve.

“I know we don't really look like the hardened criminals you've been told the Eirich are, but trust me you've gone through three security checks already. I know you've got a standard issue gun in your pocket but no other obvious weapons. You're wearing mark 3 armour underneath that jacket which can withstand one shot from my gun but not two impacting in quick succession. The sprung boots you are wearing as well as your gun give you away as an agent to those who know what to look for, and by your underlying accent I'm guessing you were born on Fuar then moved to Nixx with the Travellers”  ****  
** **

Dan tried to hide his shock. He'd moved away from Fuar when his parents had died, a baby faced sixteen year old who lied about his age and begged a place aboard a merchant ship to get away from it all, leaving his grandmother with his younger brother. He'd ended up broke and alone three years later at a recruitment centre on Gealach, one of Manas’ two inhabited moons, and was sent down to Nixx for basic training after his apparently high agent aptitude test.

(Later he was glad he’d lost contact with them, it made it easier to hide his origins from the Travellers. Stories from before he arrived in Nixx were not things he told lightly, even Phil knew very few of them).  


Another thought crossed him mind, and his stunned tongue loosened

“Why are you helping me? I’m- I was- an agent. I’ve taken down literally hundreds of people in your network, I’ve-”

Cornelia cut him off  
“People end up in circumstances they can’t control, doing things they don’t want to do. I don’t blame you for any of what you may have done while part of them- and anyway you’ve helped us by delivering these files. Large data packets like these are easily intercepted if sent digitally, sometimes physically bringing them is better. Hopefully they don’t know they’ve got some of these new blueprints so we can start work on making cheaper versions. Every bit of business we take away from them is less profit, so less power.”   


An odd look crossed her face and she looked down at the workbench they were both perched on, fiddling with some of the scraps of metal discarded there.  
“You’re going to Taar next aren’t you- to see a mechanic and get some new papers?”   
“Yeah”   
“He’s not the most… friendly to strangers, especially Travellers, or ex-travellers rather. Tell him I sent you and, actually,” Cornelia activated her wristband and grouped some files “Do you mind being a messenger again? I have some files it would be good if he got unopened”   
“Oh, um, sure” Of course Dan was willing to help someone who had been so friendly to him (not to mention scared him slightly)   
Cornelia nodded and a second later his wristband pinged to show someone had transferred something to his link. ****  
** **

“I’m guessing you don’t have time to stick around?” she smiled sadly up at him but Dan shook his head. He had a tracer to worry about- they’d be hunting him by now and he couldn’t bring a Traveller agent down of this small group of rebels.

“I thought not- suppose I should probably show you out”  
She got up, the bench squeaking slightly as she did and led him out through the cluttered workshop, then the long corridor with the screeners and scanners embedded in the walls, then out into the dusty shop front. Dan could see Greenie leaning on the glass outside smoking something but Theo was nowhere to be seen. ****  
** **

“Dan” she paused by the door “Good luck out there, look after yourself”  
“You too Cornelia”   
She surprised him then, pulling him in for a hug (and while Dan wasn’t usually a fan of people he didn’t know that well hugging him, he sort of welcomed this one. It had been a long couple of days).   
He leant down and wrapped his arms around her- though still maintaining a bit of distance between them. Her oil stained jumper was soft and warm.

She pulled back after a couple of seconds looking slightly troubled “Watch yourself out there- I know that I hold no grudge about you being an agent, but Theo- well. If he makes the connection I hope he doesn’t then you might have to make a quick getaway.”

Turning away she pulled the door open for him, the bell jingling merrily above their heads  
“I hope our paths cross again Dan, and may the stars keep you safe”

****

(“May the stars keep you safe” his mother had whispered into his hair before leaving on the freighter that took her life.

“May the stars keep you safe” his grandmother had stated in exasperation, looking up like she was sending a prayer to the heavens then turning to walk away from Dan at the elevator station on Fuar, his brother’s hand clutched tightly in hers.  
“May the stars keep you safe” Phil had murmured into Dan’s bare chest, curled up with him in Dan’s warm bed holding each other close.)

****

It was significantly darker in the alley than it had been when Dan arrived here, only one of the suns visible over the roofs and long shadows hid some of the rubbish and waste that had built up in the corners of the street. It may have been less than an hour since Dan had been outside, but Buth was a fast spinning planet with a solar day length of only fourteen hours, and situated as Yaam was in a crater to keep it safe from its planets fierce winds, sunlight hours were short here.

****

Greenie nodded to Dan as he passed, the end of his biosmoke glowing in the darkness and his clothes drained of colour. He looked much more menacing half hidden in the shadows. Dan nodded back and continued down the unlit street, relying on his memory to get him back to the marketplace.

****

The rundown bar Dan had passed a little up the street to the shop was open and in business now, music blaring and drinks flowing. Bright light spilled out of the door as it was shoved open, revealing a familiar silhouette.

Theo cracked his knuckles menacingly and took a slightly unsteady step forwards. It hadn’t been that long since Dan had seen him, he half wondered how much he’d had to drink in that time. There were some very fast acting spirits out there if you knew what to ask for.

****

“You” Theo seemed surprised to see him, but pleasantly, like a shark seeing its prey “I was coming to find you” He took another step towards where Dan was frozen like a deer in the bright light from the open bar door “I figured it out, where I knew you from. We’d never met but, hic, I’ve seen your picture. Studied it. You and your partner too.”  
He shrugged, swaying slightly   
“What can I say, you look different without your armour on. Took me a while to figure it out” He tapped his head with a finger “But I did”

Two equally buff men appeared in the doorway, yelling above the music that was still blasting  
“Hey Theo, this the guy you were saying about?”   
Theo nodded, never taking his eyes off Dan

“My brother-” he had to pause and Dan watched him tighten his hands into fists “My brother was a trader on Nixx, helped the Eirich on the side. He was caught a couple of weeks ago in a club in Nixx by a couple of agents. Where’s your buddy, Dan?” His voice had turned mocking and bitter.  ****  
** **

 

Dan’s adrenaline had kicked in, his body torn between fight or flight. His gun was in his pocket and would take him several seconds to draw and fire. By that time Theo’s buddies would be on him. His already aching muscles complained at the thought of running, but it seemed the only option. ****  
** **

“Cornelia has a policy against revenge, but she doesn’t have to know” Theo was leering up at him now, the scent of spirits heavy on his breath.  ****  
** **

Dan watched him tense and pull back for the first punch (a left hook) before diving to the right, swerving around him and taking off down the street with the sound of his angry pursuers hounding after him. Normally they would be no match for him, he’d be out of sight already taking back routes and heading towards crowds where he could lose them, but his implants were aching, his muscles unused to this amount of effort needed for running and he didn’t know Yaam as well as they clearly did.  
_This might not end well_ his inner voice whispered as he raced passed a couple of Traveller guards who luckily paid no more notice to him than to glare at his his retreating back. Theo and his buddies were still chasing him however and Dan was getting horribly, horribly lost. It would only be a matter of time before his luck ran out.

****

__________

****

“PJ could you stop slurping, its really loud in my ears” Phil winced, adjusting his earpieces.

On the other end of the line Phil could here PJ sigh and put his cup down  
“Sorry, it's been so long since I’ve had authentic Buthian tea and its just- mwah. So good”   
Phil could almost exactly picture PJ in that moment perched on the chair in his hotel room, surrounded by monitors and sipping his green tea.   
“I didn’t expect to be let off the planet, you know. Got to enjoy it while I can”   
“And that includes slurping?”   
“Uh, duh. How could I fully appreciate the tea otherwise?”

Phil shrugged, already partially immune to PJ’s nonsense due to resistance gained by spending too much time around Dan, and strolled over to the next notice board in the market.

He was putting posters of Dan’s face up around the main market, knowing from the last tracer location that he had come to Yaam, and getting a bit of amusement everytime he loaded it onto the digital board knowing it was one of the worst photos of Dan he could find (not to mention didn’t really look like him anymore. Subtle acts of resistance, that was how he would get through this). The Traveller soldiers stationed around the market- it was Traveller sanctioned after all- had been no help, and all Phil wanted to do was fall asleep in the hotel room he and PJ were sharing, knowing that a sleep would help his aching muscles. ****  
** **

However, he was supposed to be showcasing how determined and loyal an agent he was, so PJ had persuaded him to ‘go do something useful’ until sundown. Luckily the first of the two suns was already dipping below the cliff that formed the horizon, with the second one following closely, so it wouldn’t be too long before he was collapsing into the luxuriously soft bed waiting for him. (No cuddles with Dan this time though, or first night away pizza. Every new broken tradition made Phil miss Dan a little more each time.)

****

His wristband buzzed and over his earpieces he heard PJ swear, a quiet meaningful “Fuck”  
He activated the holo screen just for his heart to drop to the floor as a red dot flashed on the projected map.   
Dan   
Distantly Phil heard PJ mutter “Why is he still here? He was supposed to be off that planet on the last elevator ride” but most of his attention was given up to the argument that was raging in his head. ****  
** **

Should he go after him or not. ****  
** **

Part of Phil was just desperate to see him again, to check with his own eyes that Dan was alright, to seek the comfort of his presence he’d been craving since he told Dan of his promotion on that shooting range.

The other part of Phil, the sensible part, knew that he had to stay as far away from Dan as possible. Phil was supposed to be hunting Dan down and- he didn’t want to think about it. If he found himself in the same place as Dan then he would be forced to take him down. He was being watched after all, the view from his armour cam sent straight to Observation in HQ (on a couple of minutes delay due to the distance, but it wouldn’t give him enough time to escape if HQ called in back up from the soldiers here in Yaam). Even if he escaped with Dan, PJ would get into trouble for letting him go, possibly blowing his cover as well. There was no way to win in that situation.

****

In the end, he didn’t get given a choice  
“Phil you have to go after him. HQ will be expecting you to have mobilized already”

Phil nodded, then realised that PJ couldn’t see him

“Head to the south exit of the market place, that’ll get you nearest. By the time HQ are paying attention to your stream you’ll want to be looking like you’re seriously after him, that’ll be in about two minutes. I’ll guide you to where he was”

PJ’s voice had taken on an urgency the was mirrored in the way Phil had picked up his pace. He had a part to play.

****

__________

****

Dan was losing his lead, his muscles tiring earlier than expected. He stumbled around another sharp corner, dodging his way in and out between the group of people entranced by a street performer resulting in a couple of yells. He could still hear his pursuers footsteps thudding behind him, keeping time with his own gasping breaths. His body reacted instinctively to the feel of someone behind him, diving to the left down an even narrower alley filled with rubbish, just avoiding the grasp of a hand that swung above his head. Risking a glance back his heart fell, there were still two following him with rage in their eyes. Putting on a burst of speed he rushed forward, knocking down some of the piles of trash into their way, and feeling perverse satisfaction as one cried out behind him in time with the unmistakable sound of glass smashing.

One down. ****  
** **

Around another blind corner the end of the alley bloomed into sight, the street lights illuminating a familiar figure. Theo had circled around to the other end of the alley and now he was trapped between two very angry men. There was a rusty ladder attached to the wall between him and Theo and Dan lunged for it. Theo swore loudly (causing a young girl clutching a toy bow and arrow across the street to turn to her mother and ask “Mummy what does that word mean?”) but by the time he reached the ladder Dan was already at the top and clambering onto the fire escape of the neighbouring block of flats, the metal railing squeaking as he leaped across it. His heavy rucksack almost made him overbalance on the landing but he just about pulled himself back upright (Phil would have laughed at him had he seen it, but kindly and while teasing Dan about which one of them was really the clumsy one). ****  
** **

The buzz of a shot rang out from below and Dan looked down to see the man he’d stopped in the alley staring up at him gun raised and murder written on his face, a burn mark just to the left of where Dan’s foot had been. A second buzz sounded, a blue bolt hitting the fire escape the floor above him, Dan’s hidden body armour taking most of the heavy impact of him flinging himself sideways and around the corner of the fire escape hopefully out of the line of fire. He knew he would have bruises from his impact with the wall but at least he wasn’t lying incapacitated from a stun bolt waiting for the other two to catch up (he didn’t trust PJ’s armour enough to put that much faith in it- and he still could be stunned if the bolt hit his legs or arms). Speaking of Theo and his buddy Dan heard the tell tale squeaking of the railing telling him someone had bunked over to this fire escape and he had to get a move on. ****  
** **

The fire escape ran all the way along this side of the building, and Dan hurried along it trying to ignore the aching pain in his side where he’d hit the wall along with the twinging of his implants, the fire escape shaking with every step.

****

One of Theo’s friends rounded the corner as he was halfway down the ladder at the other end. Dan looked down at the drop below him- he could make that- and jumped off, his boots once again absorbing most of the shock and causing a cloud of sand to billow up around him. ****  
** **

He barely had time to catch his breath before he was running back down the street towards the small crowd around the magician, swerving through them again receiving several angry looks and continuing down the straight road. He could still here feet pounding behind him but it was an open road and if he could just put on a burst of speed- ****  
** **

The yelling behind him fell back until the only sounds were his own pounding heart and the soft patter of passersby. He was slowing down a little further down the road when pure instinct got him diving to the right down another alley, just about avoiding Theo’s grasping hands.

****

He was out of luck though, the dark alley he found himself in was a dead end, with an angry 200 pound man between him and the exit and no other way out he could see, unless he wanted to scale a four story shear wall (which wouldn’t be his preferred option, given the way he could feel his legs almost buckle just at the thought of it).

He turned slowly instead, staring at Theo silhouetted by the cold white street lights behind him, clenching and unclenching his fists while grinning at Dan, caught in a corner.

Dan’s mind was spinning, calculating the odds of ducking passed him (low), the odds of beating him in a fight (very low), the odds of Dan getting out of here in time for his scheduled elevator (impossible due to him being half an hour late for it already- getting lost earlier had really knocked out his timings).

There was only one thing Dan could think of to get out of here, and even as he was reaching into his pocket he knew he wouldn’t be quick enough.

****

He was right. Theo barrelled into him, shoving him into the ground his rucksack falling off his shoulders. The gun went flying hitting the wall of the alley with a clang.

****

Theo sat on his chest to stop him from moving, pinning his arms to his sides as he did and suddenly Dan couldn’t breathe properly. His ribs complained, his legs felt like jelly and as he glanced over at him useless gun he resigned himself for whatever was coming for him. He couldn’t escape this. He probably deserved it anyway. Dan had figured out long ago that he wasn’t a good person. ****  
** **

“You are a slippery bastard, you know. I could find out almost nothing about you beside the cover you were using that night. The night you caught my brother, that is. I tried to come to terms with the fact that I would never find you. And then-” he gave a dark chuckle “There you were, like a gift from the heavens, right in Cornelia’s shop, and I thought ‘I may not get my brother back from whichever cell he’s languishing in, but at least I can hurt the guy who put him there’ but then Cornelia sent me away. And then- and then you turned up again, right outside my bar, right when I was coming to find you” He grinned down at Dan, the smell of spirits overpowering him almost as much as the weight on his chest was “It was fate”  


“I-” Dan struggled to catch his breath “I don’t believe in fate” Theo shifted on top of him, squashing his ribcage just that little bit more “And, I want you to know, even if you don’t believe me. I was given orders and I did them or I died. I didn’t want to catch your brother. I never wanted to hurt anyone. It’s just-” and here was the bit Dan had struggled over, had tried to reassure Phil about on many a dark night   
“I had no choice” It came out a whisper from uncertain lips

****

“Bullshit” Theo’s fist hit the ground just to the right of Dan’s head, causing sand to fly up and onto Dan’s face. He tried to shake it away but just succeeded in getting some in his nose.

Theo glared down at him providing a spectacularly unattractive view of the inside of his own nasal passage.

“Fucking bullshit” A second fist rained down, this one making hard contact with Dan’s left cheekbone. His head rung with the impact of the hit, everything went slightly faded.  
“That was for my brother you fucking prick” Theo’s voice sounded far away. Dan half wondered if maybe his earpieces had malfunctioned as a result of the blow.

****

Something strange seemed to happen then. Phil’s voice, loud angry and wonderfully Meinnian  
“Get the fuck away from him”   
But it couldn’t be Phil because Dan had left Phil behind on Nixx and Phil’s natural accent had faded the longer Dan had known him and Phil almost never swore.

****

Theo glanced behind him, his fist raised for another hit  
“You” His voice was almost a snarl   
“I’m warning you, get off him. Now” Phil’s voice was commanding- a tone he rarely used- and coated in white hot anger.

“No”

A blue light flashed, and Theo was slumping down reduced to a dead weight.

****

__________

****

Phil’s hand dropped to his side, finger still on the trigger. Dan-  
“Phil remember people are watching you” PJ’s voice, low and urgent in his ear.

He didn’t care.

Dan-

His hands were shaking now. He wanted to run forward, run away. Instead he was stuck here, frozen to the spot.

He’d shot a man.

Sure it wasn’t the first time he’d done it, and it was only with a stun bolt- but in the moment Phil had pulled the trigger he hadn’t cared whether the bolt that emerged was red or blue.

The man had been hurting Dan.

Phil had shot him without a second thought.

****

Dan heaved the unconscious body off himself and looked up. Phil stared back at him, gun almost slipping from his grip.

His hoodie was dirty, his trousers ripped and his boots were scuffed- and Phil knew that if Dan had a mirror he would hate the way his hair looked but unwashed and covered in dust he was still the most beautiful man Phil had ever seen. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Dan’s.

Even in the muted colours of the alley Phil could see the red bruise already forming on Dan’s cheek.

His anger boiled once again, his fist squeezing itself shut. How dare- how dare he- Dan.

****

“Phil” PJ’s voice in his ear, bringing him crashing back down from orbit.

He had a job to do, a part to play.

****

Dan was slowly making his way up off the sandy floor, swaying slightly back and forth. ****  
** **

“Are you really there? Or am I unconscious and hallucinating you or something” Dan leant against the alley wall for balance as he stood to almost his full height and winced

“Scratch that unconsciousness doesn’t hurt this much” ****  
** **

“Dan” Phil’s voice came out as an embarrassingly hoarse whisper as he held back the sob in his throat. He could feel his adrenaline dropping, feel it drain out of him with every step Dan took forward. ****  
** **

Dan took two goes to get his rucksack onto his back and flinched when he ghosted his hands over his ribs. It was when he reached for his gun that Phil found his voice again.

****

“I’m supposed to catch you and bring you back to HQ”  
“That sounds like literally the worst idea I’ve ever heard”

****

Dan’s gun was securely back in his pocket.

Phil’s gun was still pointing at the floor.

****

“Phil” PJ again- didn’t he realise… Oh. There were still people watching him “I cut their audio, called it a technical error. Your armour is old, they believed me. They can still see but they can’t hear you now” ****  
** **

“Dan” Phil tried again, memorising the lines and shapes of his face for a thousandth time. Stars alive, he had missed him, missed him so much it hurt his chest. Missed his smile, missed his patter on the express shuttle ride over, missed his subtle hand touches on the elevator. Seeing Dan again felt like it always did, like coming home. It couldn’t last though, not here, not caught in this situation. He had no choice.

****

Phil was about to do something stupid.

****

“Sorry” There is was again, that word. Phil waved it away. What had happened had happened, there was no changing it now

“I- I didn’t want to leave you behind- I don’t even know why I did. Every day I regret not turning around in that shooting range and dragging you out with me”

Dan sounded wrecked and all Phil wanted to do was gather him up in his arms and hold him until he stopped shaking- but he couldn’t, not here, not now, not while he still had a part to play.

“And now here you are, by some- sent here to catch me. It’s ironic isn’t it, that you’ve found me again but I can’t go with you” ****  
** **

 

Phil lifted his gun and prayed his hand would stop shaking. He had a difficult shot to make. ****  
** **

 

“You’re going to get out of here, and go wherever you are going next.”  
“But-” Dan tried to protest. Phil shut him down.   
“I’m going to get out of here in a way that doesn’t hurt anyone else, and I’ll come find you”   
“... Promise?”   
“Promise”

There was no hesitation ****  
** **

 

He aimed his gun carefully. Dan regarded him with wide eyes. ****  
** **

“Trust me?”  
“Yeah”   
“Then run” ****  
** **

Dan sprinted at him, faster than Phil had expected considering he had just taken a heavy blow to the head after what had seemed like a pretty long chase.

(Phil had caught a glimpse of Dan sprinting down an adjacent road once he’d arrived at the location of Dan’s tracker, and upon seeing the two men chasing after him it was like something had taken over his body because the next thing he remembered seeing was a fist impacting Dan’s face, hard).

It didn’t matter.

Phil took the shot.

****

The blue bolt grazed past Dan’s left shoulder, leaving a burn mark of the graffiti covered wall where his head had been half a second before. Dan rushed by his left side and Phil felt the ghost of warm fingers brushing his. By the time Phil had spun around and walked out of the alley Dan was nowhere in sight. It had always been Dan’s talent, disappearing.

****

“Well” Phil jumped, then remembered that PJ was in his ear “That was certainly a performance” ****  
** **

The gun slipped to the floor. His legs couldn’t hold him up anymore so he sunk to his knees, hands burying themselves in the sand desperately trying to ground himself.

He knew the few people wondering down the street were giving him some strange looks, but he didn’t care. He was slumped on the floor of an alleyway in Yaam crying with an unconscious man collapsed on the floor a couple of metres behind him who he’d shot, but he didn’t care because Dan had gotten out, Dan had escaped. Phil had played his part, and Dan had run.

That was all that mattered.

He just hoped Dan would be ok.

****

__________

****

The left side of Dan’s face was throbbing and swelling up, making it hard to see out of his eye. The first aid training he’d been given had kicked in- he needed painkillers and to make sure he didn’t pass out. He knew there would be a shop on Psi Two selling painkillers but the not passing out bit was more difficult. ****  
** **

Normally Phil would be fussing around him, being overprotective and usually a right pain in the ass- but Dan would much prefer that over this, stumbling through the streets of Yaam at night alone with the only thing keeping his legs moving being the thought of getting off this planet and sleeping on the shuttle. ****  
** **

There were still people out in the street (Buth ran on a two day cycle, one ‘day’ lasting two solar days) but most gave Dan a wide berth, taking one look at him and glancing away.  
According to Dan’s wristband it was only a ten minute walk from here to the elevator, but he was slow and stumbling and his head felt fuzzy and- Phil was here. ****  
** **

Phil had saved him, had appeared like a guardian angel and shot Theo. ****  
** **

Stars alive, Dan just wanted Phil to appear beside him again exactly as magically as he had last time and wrap him up in his arms and fuss as he always did and Dan would protest and say ‘it really doesn’t hurt that bad- stop fussing Phil’ and Phil would make a face and try and tone it back but fail miserably and shoot him concerned glances every couple of seconds until Dan let him get his way with whatever he was stressing over, and Dan would pretend to be annoyed but would really just be… _fond, in love, grateful that he had found Phil and that Phil cared so much_ . There were too many truthful ways to end that sentence. ****  
** **

Dan had left Phil behind and Phil had just waved it off, had promised he would find Dan again. It was all his damn fault they were in this mess yet Phil had just- forgiven him like it was nothing. Phil had defended him and forgiven him as if Dan had never abandoned him, as if they had never been apart. ****  
** **

He didn’t know which cosmic entity he had pleased to end up with someone like Phil, all he knew was that he wasn’t worthy of him and would spend every day of the rest of his life trying to make up for leaving him behind. ****  
** **

The bright lights of the market place bloomed into sight ahead of him and almost sobbing with relief Dan hobbled his way towards them. The elevator loomed the other side of it, his ticket up to Psi Two then off to the next step of his journey, a long shuttle out to his home planet Fuar and one of its two inhabited moons Taar. He had a mechanic to find.

****

__________

****

PJ had been forced to come and find him in the end. He’d taken one look at Phil’s face then a glance back into the alley behind him at the unconscious man still out cold on the ground, before announcing that he’d sort everything out and Phil just had to get back to the hotel _now,_ doctors orders. No form of motorized transport was allowed within the inner city of Yaam, so Phil had to escorted back to the hotel by a couple of PJ’s ‘friends’, two guards from the market he greeted by name and with a friendly smile.

PJ did seem to know everyone. ****  
** **

Now he was back in his room Phil half wished that he’d stayed collapsed in the street. There was a video message waiting for him, a blinking notification on his wristband, and now that he was back in his room he had no excuse for ignoring it. He procrastinated a little longer, pulling off his armour and the jacket under it with aching arms and kicking off his shoes. His suitcase was open, he grabbed the first hoodie he saw- heart stopping when he realised it was actually one of Dan’s but pulling it on anyway (he’d packed in a hurry, throwing clothes in a suitcase so he could make his assigned elevator). ****  
** **

Collapsing down onto the bed he gave in to the insistent blinking of his wristband and swiped across it.

The Commander’s face bloomed onto the screen her face closed off, eyes stormy. It was a short video clip. Phil knew she would have preferred a proper face to face interrogation but communication between planets was still hampered by the bounds of light speed and physics so video clips had to do if you didn’t want to sit around for three minutes for every question and reply (and three minutes was a low value considering the planets were reasonably well aligned, sometimes communication from Buth to Manas took fifteen minutes each way). ****  
** **

He clicked play ****  
** **

“Agent 1910 if you miss again Special Branch won’t be so careless- with you or with him”


	3. Chapter 3

The shuttle from Buth to Taar was a long one, even when Tuathanas (the farming planet in between) was used to slingshot them with a gravity boost. The thrill of low gravity had worn off long ago, so Dan spent most of the flight avoiding his fellow passengers and gazing out of the window at the stars beyond. ****  
** **

It both terrified and enticed him, staring out into the void. It always had done, from when he’d been a young boy on Fuar and had dragged his mother up to the rickety rooftop to stare up at the stars littering the sky. He’d been fascinated that she went up there, to those unreachable pinpricks of light in the weeks she was away.

They’d sit up there when Dan had nightmares and she would point out constellations and the other planets and tell him strange stories of the Eartherns from a distant solar system with only one Sun, who arrived here over a thousand years ago in a small convoy of deep space ships.

****

_“That’s why it’s year 1137 NC, the NC stands for New Colony”_   
_“So there’s really other people out there?” Young Dan gaped at the dark sky in awe_   
_“Yep, planets full of them over a hundred light years away.” She shrugged “We try to send them messages sometimes, but its a two hundred year round trip and sometimes the information can get distorted. We have got a couple of replies though”_   
_“That’s so cool!” Dan beamed up at her. She smiled down and ruffled his hair_   
_“It kind of is, isn’t it” Her eyes went slightly zoned out “I bet you’ll travel the solar system one day Dan”_   
_“Why can’t I go with you now?”_   
_“Because they don’t let young boys on the space ships. Space travel can be bad for your health, especially when you’re growing”_   
_“Then why do you go if its bad for you?”_ _  
“Because it’s my job” she paused “Well- not only because of that. There’s something about the stars, bear. They call you back”_

****

She had been right, Dan understood now staring out at the twinkling in the darkness. There was something so unobtainable about the shining dots that called to him- it was scary and he didn’t understand it but it didn’t matter. The stars offered escape, always had, whether from nightmares or realities. They’d been what Dan had run to upon her death.

Now Dan was going back- maybe not to Fuar but to Taar, the moon he had gazed up at from that roof watching it trace it’s path through the rings that encircled the cold planet.

****

__________

****

“Where is he going?” Phil wondered aloud. He’d been unable to sleep, the Commander’s words echoing round in his head, and so he had been awake when his wristband had buzzed a couple of hours ago. Dan’s latest tracer signal had been detected, putting him in between Buth and Tuathanas- but Dan going to the latter wouldn’t make sense, what with it being more heavily Traveller controlled than even Manas. The Travellers were proud of their farm.

“Taar” PJ sounded distracted doing whatever he had been so focused on for the last couple of hours at the desk across the room, face lit up by his computer screen and the weak dawn light trickling in through the curtained window. Phil rolled over in his bed, wristband projection closed for the first time since before the Commander’s message to stare in confusion at the man he’d fast begun considering a friend across the slightly messy room.  
“Wait- what? How do you know that?”   
“I sent him there” PJ still sounded like he wasn’t fully focused- probably why he was saying this Phil supposed.   
“You sent him? You mean you’ve known where he would be the entire time”   
“...Maybe” PJ was looking up from his screen now, eyes widened behind his glasses and expression the pinnacle of guilty   
“Why didn’t you bloody tell me!” His voice was probably too loud for that hour of that morning but right there and then Phil didn’t care   
“Because I didn’t think I was going to be the one watching over you, I thought I was going to be stuck on Manas in that control room watching it all play out. Dan would have escaped from Special Branch to get to Taar to have his tracer removed, and back in Nixx I would have helped you stage a suicide attempt and get out out of here. I met you in that garden to get to know you, and to make sure you wouldn’t do anything stupid before I could keep my promise to Dan. Next thing I knew I’d been assigned to catch him with you”   
“You still should have told me”   
PJ ran a hand through his hair   
“I thought the best thing to do would be to have you treat this case like you usually would. Stupid of me, I know, this case being what it is. But keeping things from you was never… malicious”   
“Since when did you get to decide what’s best? I had a right to know, he’s my-”

Phil ended up humming discontentedly in a rather anticlimactic way to end that sentence, then did the most sensible (childish) thing he could think of and rolled over to face the wall, pointedly not looking in PJ’s direction. The leg of his glasses dug into the side of his face but it would ruin his point to remove them.

“Phil- Phil. I get it, I should have told you, and I’m sorry I didn’t, I just- wasn’t thinking properly. Sometimes people don’t feel like people anymore, just case files” PJ’s voice was pleading  
“So that’s what I am to you, what Dan is to you- a case file, a number, a piece in your plan” Phil clamped his mouth shut to try and stop more bitterness seeping out but- he was sick of being manipulated and sickened to think that PJ had been doing it too

“Fuck- no, that’s not what I… Dan’s my friend, one of my closest friends actually although he might not have realised it, and you- you’re important to him.”  
Phil heard him sigh and his chair squeak but just squeezed his eyes tighter shut   
“I’m saying this all wrong aren’t I- I meant… I-” PJ paused, coughed like it would fix the cracks in his voice “I just wanted to help you guys, to help everyone stuck in this hellish life like I am. Even if it's just greeting people by name, or turning a blind eye to things it’s my job to seek out. And sometimes I’m thoughtless and things get to much and I get so involved with the plans and ideas that I forget people are _people_ but I’m just trying to help.” He stopped there, voice choked up

“I could have helped, you know. If you’d have told me” Phil sounded tired and distant, even to his own ears. He was sick of people controlling him.  
“I’m so, so sorry”   
Phil sighed. He didn’t have time for this, and he liked PJ. He forced his voice brighter   
“It’s fine- just you have to tell me everything you know. No more secrets” He rolled back over to see PJ nodding fervently   
“There’s one more stop on his trip...”   


__________

****

Taar was worse than he’d expected and he hadn’t been expecting much, news reports of the conditions up here burned into his brain from his childhood. The moon housed a mining colony, it’s only city burrowed deep into the moon itself for the surface was under too much of a threat from the rock and ice that made up the rings to build upon. Everything was coated in a fine layer of moon dust and Dan spend his first minute out of the shuttle port choked up in a violent coughing fit that didn’t help the bruising on his chest or the dull pounding in his head (during the day and a bit flight the bruises had coloured, turning his cheek and ribs into a painting of mottled greens, purples and browns). A little later, having found a shop selling breathing masks, he felt at least able to breathe without sucking in a rooms worth of dust.

Nothing about the habitation on the moon was healthy. The rough stone walls of the corridor he found himself in had rusting vents embedded into them, and early on they could possibly have been an effective ventilation system but, like everything else, over time they had been clogged up with the grey dust and only served to spread it more.

Everything was cut out of the rock, and while the sprawling network of tunnels and bridges may have looked impressive from a distance once Dan looked closely he could see that they were old and wearing away.

The cleanest place Dan had found so far turned out to be the huge atrium in the centre of the colony, with tunnels spreading off it in all directions and it’s high ceiling made of a glass roof that looked out into space, and currently straight down at the muted blues and light grey's of Fuar’s icy surface.

Dan kept his eyes down on his (now dust covered) sprung boots. ****  
** **

The gravity on the moon was much lower, and Dan found himself hopping along, weaving past grimy faced miners and the out modelled robot attempting the impossible task of sweeping up all the dust. ****  
** **

Each tunnel leading off the almost circular atrium was colour coded and labelled. Dan had to fumble around on his wristband to find the address PJ had given him. He passed the signs for Excavator Dock, Workshop, Hospital, Marketplace and Housing Block Two before finding what he’d been looking for- the pale pink sign of Housing Block Three.

****

Housing Block Three turned out to be a huge cavern stretching downwards filled with floor upon floor of doors- like a huge apartment complex except burrowed into the rock. Dan groaned aloud, the sound muffled by his breathing mask but still there.

He ended up sharing an elevator with two burly miners who both glanced at his bruise and side eyed each other and a kind of frail looking teenage girl who glared at him whenever he met her gaze. It was overall a pleasant lift ride, further complemented by the heavy dubstep playing out of the lift speakers (at least Dan still had sarcasm). ****  
** **

 

Eventually floor 13E arrived and Dan made his awkward exit. The metal mesh floor and barred handrails reminded him slightly of the fire escape in Yaam but he tried to push that thought away and ignore the phantom ache of his ribs. ****  
** **

Dan counted up the flat numbers, arriving at an unmarked door in a sea of unmarked doors. ****  
** **

He knocked, once, twice, then had a slight crisis over the socially acceptable number of times to knock on someone’s door. ****  
** **

While raising his hand for a third knock (having decided that three was okay) the door swung slowly open. A youngish man stood on the other side and Dan tried not to pay attention to the gun held loosely in his right hand.

“Hi, er” Dan tried to change his raised hand into some kind of awkward wave then had to fight off the resulting cringe attack.

The man glanced down at his boots and his face clouded over. There was a burst of red light accompanied by a spike of pain in his still raised lower arm (so much for his body armour) and Dan spent his last few conscious seconds wondering why the man’s face looked so familiar.

****

_“Do you ever think about what your family might be doing right now?” Phil was curled up in a ball on his bed, hands running through his fringe, saying goodbye. He was getting it cut tomorrow, up into the quiff he’d been debating on and off with Dan for the past year._   
_Dan who had been lying next to him playing a game on his wristband screen took a glance at Phil and closed the game, then rolled over onto his side to look at Phil who wouldn’t meet his eyes._   
_“Hey” he said gently, spiking Phil’s hair up into a quiff “Where did this come from?”_   
_“I just… miss them. It would be my mum’s birthday today.”_   
_“Phil-” Dan shuffled closer and wrapped his arms around Phil “Happy birthday to your mum”_   
_He gave a small smile that was quickly swallowed by the slight frown on his face_   
_“Do you though?”_  
 _“Well- my grandmother is probably ruling over some kind of club and my brother,” Dan shrugged “He’d be all grown up by now”_

_There was a pause_   
_“I’m scared my parents will look old”_   
_Something in Phil’s tone stopped Dan from cracking a joke_   
_“Phil… it’s been seven years since you’ve seen them now, isn’t it. They probably would look a bit older”_   
_Phil rolled away from Dan’s tracing fingers._   
_“I have picture- if you want to see?”_   
_Dan heard the slide of a drawer opening and closing, then Phil was crawling back, a photo frame clutched in his hand_   
_“Here- it’s the only photo I have”_   
_Phil must have only been eleven or twelve, stood proud in muddy boots with his arm around a slightly older boy who looked like him. Behind them stood two people who must have been Phil’s parents, caught just before they started laughing._   
_“I always knew you were secretly a ginger” Dan’s tone was light, teasing. Phil smiled sadly_   
_“That was during the hair dye incident, I’m much less ginger than that. My brother kept on teasing me about it”_ _  
“Martyn?” Phil had mentioned the name before._

_Carefully Phil took the photo frame back, nodding, and Dan heard him slide it back into his drawer. The hiding place would never hold up under inspection but- Dan couldn’t take away something that was so important to Phil._   
_He chose his words carefully_   
_“Phil, have you got a digital copy of this”_   
_“Yeah, hidden in a folder on my wristband, why?”_   
_“You know you can’t… keep this, right? If someone finds it-”_   
_“They could find my family through facial recognition software, yeah. I know” Phil sounded utterly dejected but resigned “I just- couldn’t do it. It’s be like… burning my family” He hugged the frame closer to his chest._   
_“How about we hide it- put a different photo on top of it maybe?”_   
_Phil’s face lit up slightly and he mumbled something unintelligible before hurrying over to his cupboard and shifting through one of the folders._   
_“Here”_ _  
Before Dan had a chance to protest he slipped it into the photo frame, perfectly hiding his family photo._

_Dan looked down to see Phil’s younger self staring back at him, cat whiskers drawn on his nose and an arm wrapped around a much younger Dan who was similarly decorated and staring up from under his fringe at Phil like he was the best thing he had ever seen. The picture was old, from before their graduation, taken at some sort of party._ _  
_ _“Now all of my family is together in one frame” Phil’s voice was quiet, almost scared and he gave a start of surprise when Dan leapt at him, wrapping him up in his arms and seeking out his lips._

****

 

_The lights were strobing, blue and red spotlights spinning around making Dan squint and everyone’s movement look weird, like they were stop motion slides. Their target sat in the corner, across the room from where Dan was standing on the edge of the (unpleasantly sticky) dance floor, sipping something from a tall glass and flirting with one of the scantily dressed girls leaning against the wall next to him- but Dan wasn’t really paying attention to him._ ****  
** **

_His eyes zeroed in on Phil at the bar, dressed in a handsome blue button-up that bought out his eyes and his quiff spiked up higher than usual with gel. Dan took a moment to appreciate his ass in those black skinny jeans- his… partner was handsome as fuck (most would probably have used the word sexy, but it was a description that Dan didn’t use, not really being able to understand it properly. Aesthetic attraction, he got. Understood it, experienced it. Sexual attraction, and what made something sexy, was still kind of a mystery to him)._ ****  
** **

_It wasn’t really Phil that had him distracted however, more the blonde young man who was perched at the bar and hadn’t taken his eyes off Phil the entire time they’d been there. Even now his gaze was fixed on Phil and it had something… hungry to it. Dan hated it, then hated himself for feeling like that. Sure, part of him was proud of Phil, proud that while Phil might be insecure about his age and scars others could see what Dan saw- and probably more (that may have been part of the problem). However it was something in the man’s stare mixed with Dan’s old insecurities (and jealousy, he couldn’t deny) that meant when Phil returned with the drinks Dan stepped a little closer than he normally would, especially on a mission._

****

_Phil handed him something blue and sugary and gave a small laugh when Dan mock glared at him after trying it._   
_“Phil Lester- are you trying to give us both diabetes and liver failure” Dan had to yell over the pounding music to be heard_   
_Phil took a sip from his own glass and raised an eyebrow to accompany his cheeky smirk_ _  
_“Maybe”

_Dan’s head was feeling light after just a few sips- though that might have been the effect of long exposure to the strobes._

_He glanced over Phil’s shoulder at their target (who appeared to be enjoying himself immensely) then over at the blond man before downing the rest of his too strong drink._   
_“Dan-”_   
_“He’s having fun” Dan inclined his head towards their friend who now appeared to be surgically attached by the lips to the girl from before “Why shouldn’t we?”_   
_“I suppose- no dancing though” Phil sipped his drink and used the motion to disguise taking a glance behind him at the trader who didn’t appear to be leaving any time soon._   
_“Phil” Dan dragged his name out, long and whiny “But we’ll fit in more”_   
“Not if everyone’s staring at my bad dance moves” his partner muttered but took Dan’s offered hand anyway, leaving his now empty glass next to Dan’s at the little table they’d been standing next to. ****  
** **

_One of Dan’s jobs as a support agent was making sure they blended in and as much as Dan wished that was his only reason for dragging Phil onto the dance floor proper- it really wasn’t. Dan could feel the blond man’s eyes on him as he and Phil swayed together to the thumping beat, the gaze heavy on his shoulders. He shouldn’t be doing this. It was petty and stupid and-_ ****  
** **

_Dan drowned out his own objections as he stepped a little closer, the toes of his shoes touching Phil’s. He watched Phil’s eyes drop quickly down to his lips then back up. They had both stopped swaying now, caught up in the moment and the lights and the heady rush of alcohol mixed with the other’s presence. Dan traced his hands up to cup Phil’s face and Phil buried his hands in Dan’s curls, pupils blown. Dan tried to squish the burst of satisfaction as he felt as the feeling of eyes on his back dropped away, tried to shake off the feeling of guilt it left behind. Instead he leant forward and met Phil’s lips with his._

_And it was stupid and alcohol fuelled and still wonderful because he was kissing Phil and Phil was kissing him and it was as if the rest of the world, the rest of the solar system just fell away. In that moment it didn’t matter that this was possibly one of the worst ideas that Dan had ever had, that there were likely to be cameras somewhere or that no one was watching their target- because Phil was kissing him, had chosen him, kept choosing him. Dan was who Phil wanted, lack of sexual attraction and all._

****

Dan came to slowly, dragging himself back towards consciousness and blinking heavily in the cold white light. He was in an apartment, stretched out on a rather comfortable sofa (bar whatever hard object was under the pillow his head was on). His wrist felt too light.

“You’ll be wanting this back” The voice came from the other side of the main room he was in, and a second later Dan’s wristband came flying at him, thrown by the sandy haired man who had shot him earlier.  
“Good catch”   
Dan nodded mutely and slipped it back onto his wrist. The guy looked down and around at the mess on the floor (tools, half disassembled machines in piles in the corner- it almost perfectly replicated the workshop except it was somehow… messier). Dan must have gotten the right place.   
“Sorry about, well, shooting you and all that earlier. Saw your boots and kind of panicked. Found Corn’s files and PJ’s instructions soon enough though, so I guess you’re good” The man grinned at him guiltily, but Dan was too busy staring at him to really reply. Something about him seemed…  familiar.   


“Do I... know you from somewhere?”  
“Doubt it, I try to stay away from Traveller agents. I’m Martyn, mechanic extraordinaire at your service”   
“Martyn?” _Surely not-_ “I’m Dan, though you probably already know that having broken into my wristband. Are you from Meinn by any chance”   
“Yeah, how could you tell”   
So that was why he looked so familiar. Dan could see the similarities now between the man in front of his and the boy in Phil’s picture.   
“This may sound strange but- do you have a brother”   
“... Yeah. Haven’t seen him in years though” Martyn shifted slightly causing the rickety chair he was slouched on to squeal in protest.   
Dan activated his wristband and found one of his good photos of Phil (his Phil folder was hidden away in two unsuspicious folders so he wasn’t surprised Martyn hadn’t found it) where he was smiling at the camera his tongue in his teeth   
“Think he might be this guy?”   
“Phil.”   
“Yeah”   
“Fuck” The swear word was half whispered as Martyn stared at the projected photo, transfixed “He’s grown up so much”   
“I have more photos if you’d like to see them” Martyn crossed the room over to him and crashed down next to Dan on the oil stained sofa   
“Please. I can’t believe- my baby brother, after all this time. Mum cried for days after he left. She’s going to be so happy-” He let out a wet laugh ****  
** **

Dan scrolled through his ‘Phil’ camera older on his wristband, some of his thousands of memories with Phil flashing past on the screen.  ****  
** **

“I suppose you’ve known Phil for a while now then, considering all these photos”  
“He’s my partner. Met him in basic agent training six years ago now. He’s-” Dan struggled with what to say for a minute ”The best friend I could ever have asked for”   
“Where is he now?”   
“Chasing after me”   
“What- you mean you left him behind” Martyn spun to Dan, face turning red   
“I- I didn’t want to! They’d just-” Dan took a deep breath “They were going to lock me up if I didn’t leave and- I could have fetched him” Dan let out the deep, shuddering sob that had been building in his chest since he had run out of that alley “I could have fetched him. It’s all my fault. I just ran and didn’t think and- I left him behind” He couldn’t look at Martyn, buried his face in his hands instead as he let the thoughts that had been stalking him ever since he walked out the Traveller building take over. It was all his fault. If he had just- ****  
** **

He felt a light hand on his shoulder and almost shook it away but he kind of wanted the comfort.  
“He’s chasing after you, you said? Well then let’s get your tracer out” Martyn’s voice was gentle and Dan took a minute to calm himself down before answering.   
“Ok”

****

“So” Martyn had led Dan over to the worktable that took up the whole of the left wall, covered in tools and bolts and not looking particularly sanitary, and gestured for him to sit on the wooden chair at it  
“You mind rolling up your sleeve” Martyn gestured to Dan’s left sleeve before turning away to gather more tools from around the apartment. Dan obediently did so trying to use the simple task to quiet his mind. The grey sleeve of his hoodie would only roll up as far as his shoulder, where it got stuck on the shoulder guards of his armour, but it was high enough to reveal the small metal panel in Dan’s upper arm- and the red patch of skin where Martyn had shot him earlier.   
That was a question Dan wanted answering   
“Martyn- how did you shoot me with a red bolt yet I’m, well, still alive?”   
Martyn appeared back in the room, pulling along a second chair and clutching an arm full of equipment from wires to voltmeters and several things Dan couldn’t identify by all looked a little scary.   
“All my guns only have a stun setting- which just happens to be red. Sorry about that again by the way” Martyn tried to gesture at the red patch on Dan’s arm but nearly dropped everything he was holding instead “PJ warned me you were coming- I should have known it was you”   
“Wait- you know PJ?” Dan didn’t know why he was surprised at this point, everyone seemed to know PJ.   
“Yeah - I suppose he won’t have told you the story of how we met?”   
“Not a word. I didn’t know you were alive-” _and Phil still doesn’t._ The thought made Dan’s brain stop in its tracks. Phil, who was and had always been so despondent at the loss of his family, was the one who wasn’t here with his own brother. Another wave of regret washed over Dan, washing away his voice so he could only shake his head in answer.

“Well I suppose it’s as good a distraction as any- this won’t hurt if I do it right, and if I don’t a twinged muscle is the least of your problems, but it takes a while and I’ll need you to stay as still as you can.”  
“Sure”   
Martyn pried open the metal panel and Dan closed his eyes- didn’t want to look, didn’t want to see what they’d turned him into.   


“Has Phil told you why he left?” Martyn’s voice was tinged with sadness, a strange place to start the story Dan thought.  
“He didn’t really say, just that he left to make things easier and he doesn’t know if he did.” Those conversations had always been coloured with regret, whispered in the dead of night huddled close for warmth and comfort.   
“It was better, on the surface. We could afford more, were treated better than some of the others. I held Mum as she cried each night for her lost son.” Martyn paused and Dan could feel his eyes on him “This might tingle a bit”

Dan heard the ring of metal tapping metal then a small shockwave raced up his entire arm, from his fingertips to his shoulder. He tried to keep his arm as still as he could on the workbench and opened his eyes as morbid curiosity had taken over. Martyn had attached two wires to one of the ones in his arm, both connecting to one of the more haphazard tools Dan had seen him collect earlier..  
“Anyway- after a while things started to get worse again. Turns out our house was in the way of some project they’d had planned and worse a blockade had been formed above the planet so no one could escape while the Travellers quietly completed their takeover. One day it got too much. We made a break for it, made it across to the city where an old trading friend of Dad’s had offered to smuggle us up with his cargo. PJ was on patrol that night.”   
“PJ used to be an agent?”   
“I think he was still on general duties at this point. He never was really clear about it”   
Dan nodded in understanding then realised the movement was shifting his arm.   
“He detected the freighter, and when they couldn’t give him a good enough reason to be in orbit he boarded. Didn’t take long to find us. I just remember this kid, barely Phil’s age, pointing a gun at me and telling us to come with him. Terrified the life out of me”   
Martyn was poking around inside Dan’s arm with some tweezers, glancing back at the readings his set of devices were giving him every other second.   
“Anyway next thing I know we’re at Delta Four and PJ’s given me a wad of Quid and a channel to contact him on if there was anything he could do in return for a promise to visit the address and do anything I could to help out. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into.”   
Martyn huffed in pride and a small silver cube, less than half a centimeter wide, attached to two tiny broken wires falls from the tweaser ends onto the wooden work bench with a small clatter. Dan looked down in wonder at the tiny cube that has caused him so much trouble.   
“Still able to move?” Martyn asked, success written all over his face. Dan considered pranking him then decided it wasn’t worth it. He wiggles his fingers as an answer. Martyn started unplugging wires.   
“PJ may be an annoying shit who needs to tell people his plans when they’re involved, but I owe him mine and my family’s lives. We wouldn’t have made it out if not for him. Also he helped me meet Cornelia, so there’s that”

Martyn shut the panel with a snap.  
“Done. You’re free. What are you going to do with your new found freedom”   
Dan hesitated for a moment then smiled slightly   
“Do you have somewhere I could clean up- I haven’t had a shower in far too long”

****

__________

****

“This is the apartment the last tracer signal came from. It’s the right one” PJ’s voice was quiet in his ear. Main office were apparently watching them again through Phil’s body cam. “Let’s just hope they’re prepared”  
Phil drew his gun, both hating and being calmed by it’s cold presence in his hand. He couldn’t shoot Dan, he knew that, and hated that they’d gone into this without a plan.   
He and PJ had spent the shuttle here racking their brains for anything they could do, and PJ had eventually come up with the idea of faking a private shuttle crash on their return journey, but they needed Dan for that first and Phil had no idea how to get him while making it to look realistic. Worse, to delay their departure and give Dan time to get his tracer removed PJ had be forced to claim to be fixing Phil’s audio transmitter so now the Traveller control room could both see and hear him.

“Knock Phil”  
He obediently tapped twice on the dull grey door he was stood in front of. After a couple of seconds it swung open and Phil almost dropped his gun in shock   
“Martyn?” Phil took a wobbly step backwards, away from the door.   
“Phil, people are watching you. No recognition”   
“Hello little brother. Long time no see” Martyn smirked up at him (that was new- the height not the smirking) and paid no attention to the gun that was still pointed slightly towards him “Welcome to my humble abode” He gestured to come in and turned away from Phil to walk calmly towards the sofa   
Phil took a tentative step forward. The door slid shut behind him sealing out the dust and Phil used his free hand to pull his breathing mask down “Is it really you”   
“You think I go around calling random people little brother?” The sass was accompanied by a raised eyebrow as Martyn collapsed down onto the sofa in the middle of the room.   


“Who’re you talking to?” A familiar voice called. Phil kept his shaking gun trained on Martyn as he watched Dan walk into the room, still looking worn but much fresher, wearing a different hoodie and with his hair in adorable wet curls.  
“Phil” Dan froze in the doorway, eyes flicking between Phil and the gun held in his wavering hand   
“Dan, you need to come with me”   
“What?”   
“Please, PJ has a-”   
A burst of static in his ear made Phil wince and PJ spoke voice low and desperate   
“Phil remember they can hear you”   
Phil quickly changed his tone. He was actually going to have to do this properly   
“I have been charged by the Council to dispatch justice on you for breaking your contract, and on suspicion of working with the Eirich”   


“What? Phil-”   
“I suppose that thing is on”

Dan cut through Martyn’s outburst calmly, stepping fully into the room and pushing Martyn back down onto the sofa by his shoulders.  
“I guess I know the drill by now. They did send you here to kill me, didn’t they” Dan was slowly walking around the stained blue sofa towards him. Phil kept his gun trained on Martyn who, while apparently unarmed, was at least wearing some sort of protective armour. Dan was in his old oversized hoodie, so according to the book Martyn was the bigger threat.   
Dan stepped even closer, in front of the coffee table the separated Phil and Martyn, in front of Phil’s line of fire.

Phil’s hand, usually so steady when holding a gun, started to shake.

Only a metre separated the shining barrel of Phil’s gun from Dan. If he fired now it would hit Dan right in the chest.

****

Options flashed through Phil’s mind. He could drop his gun and get Martyn to remove his tracer but then PJ would get into trouble and running from their problems had done neither him nor Dan any good so far. He could grab Dan and shoot to miss again, giving him a chance to escape, but the Commander’s threat hung heavy over his head. He could shoot Dan and- ok, that wasn’t really an option. ****  
** **

Dan stepped ever closer, brown eyes locked on Phil’s, almost making him miss the sight of Martyn reaching under the cushion resting against the arm of the sofa.  
(His brain still struggled with the fact that it was Martyn, that he had found his brother again, and that maybe Martyn knew where his parents were. He could find his family again- if he ever got out of here that was). ****  
** **

“Dan- what are you doing?”  
Phil tried to back up, to put more distance between Dan and his gun but he was almost against the door and there was nowhere else to run. ****  
** **

Phil was sick of running, sick of chasing, sick of being controlled. His scattered brain tried to think of some other way out of this but came to a blank. The best thing he could do was help Dan get out of here by missing, even if it meant the Commander’s wrath was levelled at them both. Dan would be fine, he specialised in disappearing, and Phil- Phil knew he would be ok if Dan was ok. No matter what happened to him.

****

He opened his mouth, tongue stuck on the words he had to say to Dan if he was going to do this, things that he needed to say first no matter who was listening, but Dan stepped forward once more and reached for Phil’s shaking hand clasped around the grip and trigger of the gun. ****  
** **

 

“You’ve got that look on your face where you’re about to do something stupid. So don’t.” His fingers were warm on Phil’s, his face set in determination. The only sounds were their breathing and the quiet hum of the ventilation system.

Phil shut his mouth with a snap.  
“It’s my fault, you know. No, Phil, I can see you wanting to argue with me. Don’t. It’s my fault. My fault for running away from you, my fault for leaving you behind, it’s even my fault for kissing you and getting us caught. I’m so sorry, for everything, and I know that isn’t enough. So, for my first act to try and make it up to you, let me solve this little problem we’re in”  
****  
** **

The click the switch on the side of the gun made appeared to echo around the room, the red glow that now emanated from it casting coloured shadows onto Dan’s face.

“What? Dan- no” Phil tried to pull away but his back hit the wall and Dan’s hand stayed gripped on top of his. He couldn’t possibly be considering- ****  
** **

Dan’s face was resolute, a twisted mirror of the look he’d had when he’d walked away from Phil.

“Trust me”

****

A lot of things seemed to happen far too quickly after that and Phil’s frazzled brain could barely keep up. First there was Dan squeezing his fingers down on the trigger Phil was holding. The burst of red light hit him square in the chest from barely a metre away, and he folded before dropping to the floor.

Phil had barely took a step towards him before a second burst of red light hit him on the shoulder of his armour, half blinding him and causing his old armour to spark and die in a spectacular fashion- the resulting momentum shoving Phil back so his head crashed into the steel door behind him.

****

He must have blacked out for a second or two because the next thing Phil knew he was collapsed on the floor against his brother’s front door with eyes closed, his wristband beeping at him and PJ yelling in his ear.  
  
“Phil? Phil- fuck. Please tell me you’re alive- no heartbeat, no breathing, no visual or audio- fuck.” ****  
** **

Phil squinted his eyes open- his glasses had fallen off when he’d fallen so the room was a blurry mess but he could make out the figure of his brother standing still as a statue by the sofa, a strange looking metal blob in his hand that Phil guessed to be the gun that had shot him. Left hand finding his glasses, the scene transformed into high definition when he slipped them on (internally Phil cursed the dust of the moon for messing with his contacts). ****  
** **

Martyn was jerkily moving forward now, the gun clattering out of his hand down onto the cluttered coffee table. The sound, accompanied by PJ panicking down his earpieces spurred Phil into action. He scrambled forward, head aching and unstable on his hands and knees but determined.

Dan was curled up on his side, facing away from Phil.

****

Phil reached out for the soft material of the hoodie Dan was wearing only to come into contact with something hard underneath that definitely wasn’t a ribcage.

****

“Dan, please tell me you planned this”

Phil watched his previously blank face bloom into a smile and his eyes flick open

“It was kind of a spur of the moment thing but I’m guessing it worked” Dan rolled over and pulled himself upright leaving a hand wrapped around his ribs.

“Well, PJ’s still panicking on the other end of this, so I guess it looked realistic enough” Phil trapped his earpiece, his battered brain having gone onto autopilot to try and deal with what had just happened.

“I owe PJ a whole lot actually” Dan moved to pull off his now ruined hoodie, wincing as he did. Phil wanted to reach out and help but he was locked in place by the relief and dizziness spinning through his system.

Dan was alive.

“Phil, you ruined my new armour” Dan was staring down in dismay at the new burn mark right in the middle of the unfamiliar body armour’s chest plate “And my hoodie for that matter”

Phil tackled him to the ground, hearing Dan let out a soft ‘oof’ sound as his back crashed into the carpet but sealing the noise in Dan’s mouth with his lips. His mouth tasted minty.

Dan’s arms wrapped around his waist, warm and firm and _grounding_ which was definitely something Phil needed right then.

It was only when Phil put more of his body weight down on Dan, unable to hold himself up on his elbows anymore, that he pushed away slightly  
“Sorry- ribs still hurt” The words were breathed into the tiny gap between them, arms wrapped securely around each other “Also Phil- your brother is right there”   
“Oh” Phil broke away from Dan’s gaze and rolled over off of him, flopping upright so he was sitting on the floor facing his brother “Yeah. Sorry”   
  
Martyn was collapsed down on the sofa and waved slightly at Phil   
“Are you guys done yet?”   
“No”   
“No”   
The answer was almost instantaneous and synchronized, both turning to laugh slightly at the other once it was said.

****

“May the stars watch over both your souls” A pause. PJ sounded slightly wrecked, a tremor in his voice and it jarred Phil back into near reality “Dan is going to murder me- he’s going to come back from the grave and murder me”  
Phil shivered unconsciously- hearing a friend mourn your death was a sobering thing- and caused Dan to put a warm hand on his arm.   
“What is it?”   
The first bit was something to be kept to himself, Phil decided   
“PJ thinks you’re going to come back from the dead to kill him” Phil slowly took out his earpieces. PJ would find them here anyway. Hopefully he’d be alright until then (Phil pushed that thought away).   
“He can’t hear you can he?”   
“No- my transmitter was in my armour. Not sure how I survived that shot really- not sure how you survived either”   


“Well I did and you did and that’s all that matters” Dan reached down and tangled their fingers together, his bright smile brushing away Phil’s dark thoughts “No more patrols, or horrible missions, or things that make us hate ourselves. We can just be you and me in a house somewhere remote but not too far away from a city, with a feature wall and loads of windows, and we'll walk our dog and trying to not let you kill all the plants. We’ll visit your family and have lazy mornings in bed and game and star gaze, and when we want to we’ll go travelling around the system and see all sorts of beautiful things and know that we have a place to return to. We’ll eat far too much pizza but that’ll be fine because they’ll be no more medicals or training exercises. And I’ll still have bad days and you will too but we’ll be always be able to sleep in the same bed and help each other through it” Dan paused, bringing their linked hands to his lips to press a quick kiss on Phil’s “We don’t have to run anymore”  


Phil couldn’t even try to contain his smile. It was their dream after all, wished upon a star and now almost within sight.  
“I seem to remember it was you who did all the running and me who was left behind, but sure” Phil tried to keep his tone light to show Dan he was joking but when he looked up from their joined hands Dan was frowning, his brown eyes big and regretful   
“Phil- I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you. I promise I’m never leaving you again unless you ask me to”   
“Well good- I’m never going to ask you to. We have a house to buy after all”   
Dan closed the distance between them again and Phil met him willingly, smiling into the kiss.   
Eventually Dan broke slightly away  
"I love you so fucking much"  
"Love you too nerd"  


Martyn, up on the sofa, cleared his throat  
“Do you guys want me to go somewhere else or-”

****

__________

****

“- By the time I reached the apartment the man was long gone. I’ve put his description out but have had nothing back from all the usual sources. We’re unlikely to find him.”  
The Commander nodded and tapped her desk with her long fingernails. Louise, standing behind her left shoulder, carefully wiped a tear from her eye.

PJ thanked the stars that he could still tell a good story, though the real one probably would have also made Louise cry. After all he had done when Phil opened the door, Dan half clinging to him.  


“What did you do with the bodies?”  
“Disposed of”   
The Commander noded, businesslike. PJ watched for any change in her expression but it remained the same passive mask as always.   
“Very well, Mr Liguori and thank you for your report”

As PJ got up to go he heard Louise burst out with all the objections she had clearly been gathering up since the beginning of PJ’s report on the happenings of the mission and the ‘tragic end of both agents’.

The Commander cut across her, speaking quietly and surprisingly gently  
“My wife is locked up in a Traveller prison, depending upon me doing my duty to this company. Liguori’s report states that both agents are dead, so both agents are dead. There is no need to take further action.”

The snap of Louise’s mouth closing mirrored the shutting of the office door behind him as PJ filed that interesting piece of information away for possible future use,

****

The glass walled elevator took him down the floors from the office, an evening view of the city of Nixx framed in metal and elevator cables in front of him, his mind wandering back to the blue lit room in his quarters and the photo printed out and stuck on the wall in there. A simple polaroid style photo of one man grinning widely at the camera while another kissed his dimpled cheek, framed by lush grassland and woods with a modest house perched in the background.

It was simply captioned in slightly messy handwriting:   
“Reports of death greatly exaggerated- D and P” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's over. This fic has been 8 months of my life and I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.  
> Shout out again to my wonderful beta @peasanthowelll and my lovely artist @luisaloveshoney and you can find me at @phanofstars.


End file.
